Asia-Pacific leaders call for shared global trade benefits

Facing deepening fractures in the global trade order, Asia-Pacific leaders adopted a joint declaration that emphasised the need for resilience and shared benefits in trade at the end of the annual APEC summit on Saturday.

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The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, hosted by South Korea this year, unfolded under the shadow of rising geopolitical tensions and aggressive economic strategies - ranging from US tariffs to China's export controls - that have pressured global trade.

Ahead of the gathering, US President Donald Trump announced trade deals with a number of countries, including China and South Korea. But he left before the summit kicked off.

Washington's views, however, remained on display in the declaration, analysts said, which, unlike last year's document, did not mention multilateralism or the World Trade organization.

"It is a result of member countries acknowledging, at least to some degree, that it will be difficult to restore a free trade order based on multilateralism and the World Trade organization," said Heo Yoon, a professor of international trade at Sogang University in Seoul.

"We cannot deny anymore that there is a paradigm shift in the global trade order." With Trump's swift exit before the summit,

China sought to position itself as a steady advocate of free and open trade, a role the US had dominated for decades. China will host APEC in Shenzhen in 2026, President Xi Jinping announced.