Trudeau sounds pro-trade note at close of APEC summit amid cloudy future
LIMA, Peru — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and leaders from Asian and Pacific nations — so eager to cement free trade in the region — are leaving an annual summit facing an uncertain future about the movement of goods, people and services across borders.
That uncertainty has been created with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and his anti-trade rhetoric set to take over the White House, potentially leaving a leadership vacuum on the world stage.
Trump’s anti-trade stance shook up the agenda of the APEC leaders’ annual meeting, forcing them to speak of the public relations war they now must wage to convince their citizens that trade has worked for them.
Trudeau said trade deals needed to spread benefits to more Canadians because the beneficiaries of the pacts over the last 30 years have largely been higher-income earners, “and I think that’s wrong.”