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- While Donald Trump continues to fight the 2020 election results, world leaders have pushed for freer trade from the United States under a Joe Biden presidency
- China’s President, Xi Jinping, has called globalisation “irreversible” and urged global economies to band together for multilateral trade
- While Donald Trump and the United States were not mentioned directly, it seems the calls are aimed at the “America First” approach of the Trump administration
- Trump-era policies have seen the U.S. pull out of major trade deals, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and introduced heavy tariffs of Chinese products
- Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he expects “more multilateralists” in a Biden administration
- Similarly, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Joe Biden looks to be positioning the U.S. for more open trade deals to tackle global issues
- Donald Trump is expected to speak at the APEC summit later today, still having refused to concede victory in the 2020 presidential election
While Donald Trump continues to fight the 2020 election results, world leaders have pushed for freer trade from the United States under a Joe Biden presidency.
Open and “multilateral” trade, meaning deals between several countries, has been the talk of the 2020 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum this week as big governments call for more globalisation and less protectionism.
The calls seem to be against Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ approach, which saw the U.S. backtrack on some major deals set up by the Obama administration.
Among these was the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signed by 12 countries in February 2016. President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal shortly after taking office in 2017, and the trade deal has since changed its name to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The U.S. has also been left out of the world’s biggest trade block, officially formed earlier this week. Australia joined 14 other nations to form the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is bigger than both the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the European Union.
Now, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called globalisation “irreversible” and pushed for free and open international trade in a virtual address to the APEC forum.
“Mounting unilateralism, protectionism and bullying, as well as backlash against economic globalisation, have added to risks and uncertainties in the world economy,” President Jinping said.
“However, peace and development remain the underlying trend of our times. Meeting challenges through cooperation is the only way forward for us in the international community,” he said.
He said to overcome the economic devastation brought on by COVID-19, countries need to band together, set up policy communication, and “keep global economy open”.
“China is already deeply integrated into the global economy and the international system. We will not reverse course or run against historical trend by ‘decoupling’ or forming a small circle to keep others out,” the Chinese Communist Party leader said.
The Chinese president did not mention Donald Trump or the United States directly, but it’s likely the calls for globalisation and open trade are related to the ongoing U.S.-China trade war that has soured relations between the world’s two biggest economies over the past few years.
The trade war was sparked by protectionist trade policies and heavy tariffs on Chinese products introduced by the Trump administration to ease the States’ reliance on the eastern giant.
Biden to bring more open trade support
Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said in his address to the APEC forum that he expects “more multilateralists” in the Biden administration. This includes greater support for the World Trade Organisation, which Donald Trump has criticised.
Whether a Biden administration will reverse Trump’s policies and return to Obama-era multilateralism is uncertain, but Prime Minister Loong said he is sure Biden’s team would be “more keen on throwing the doors wide open” and eager to potentially join the CPTPP.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chimed in, saying Joe Biden looks to be positioning the U.S. for greater multilateralism to tackle important global issues.
Donald Trump is expected to speak at the APEC summit later today, still having refused to concede victory in the 2020 presidential election.
