South Korea's Lee says global trade order at critical inflection point

GYEONGJU, South Korea: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday the Asia-Pacific region was at a critical inflection point with a rapidly changing global economic order, as he chaired a leaders' summit in the city of Gyeongju.

AI Brief

The APEC region represents over half of global trade and GDP, making its cooperation vital to economic stability.
The summit follows a key meeting between Xi and Trump aimed at easing US-China trade tensions.
Leaders stress the need for multilateral cooperation to overcome economic uncertainty and achieve common prosperity.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping, a non-binding 21-member forum.

The APEC region accounts for 50% of global trade and 61% of GDP, and this year's meeting follows Xi's high-profile meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to find a trade war truce on the sidelines of the gathering in South Korea.

"It is clear we cannot always be on the same side, but we must work together to achieve common prosperity," Lee said.

"As the free trade order undergoes dramatic changes, global economic uncertainty is deepening and trade and investment are losing momentum," Lee added, noting cooperation among APEC members was a "clear solution" to the current economic challenges.