APEC Fails to Issue Joint Statement Amid US-China Tensions

• 11.18.2018, 16:59
•  EEU,  America,  Asia,  Other,  World

Asia-Pacific leaders failed to reach a consensus on the wording of a communique after two days of talks in Papua New Guinea, reflecting heightened tensions fueled by a trade war between the U.S. and China, Bloomberg reports. 

Speaking to reporters at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said negotiations had been difficult between the 21 economies. The leaders have never previously failedto agree on a statement since they began meeting annually in 1993.

"I don’t think it will come as a huge surprise that there are differing visions on particular elements in regard to trade," Trudeau told reporters on Sunday. "That prevented there from being a full consensus on the communique document."

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the issue of World Trade Organization reforms was the main cause of disagreement among leaders. Nations have been calling for key changes at the WTO, including around dispute settlement, while the Trump administration has threatened to pull out of the body if it doesn’t treat the U.S. more fairly.

The disagreement among APEC leaders wasn’t "only the U.S. and China," O’Neill told a scrum of reporters, who followed him out of the closing news conference after he initially didn’t take questions. "There are other members who expressed opinions" about WTO reforms, he said.