The Phnom Penh Post

Leaders vow to keep the open market

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ASIA-PACIFIC leaders vowed on Sunday to fight protection­ism at the close of a summit upended by US president-elect Donald Trump’s shock victory and virulent attacks on free-trade deals.

‘‘We reaffirm our commitment to keep our markets open and to fight against all forms of protection­ism,’’ said the statement from the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperatio­n (APEC) group.

Rising protection­ism in Europe highlighte­d by Britain’s exit from the European Union and in the United States underscore­d by Trump’s election was a major concern at the two-day summit in the Peruvian capital Lima.

A key concern were remarks made by Trump during the election campaign that he would abandon the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnershi­p (TPP), a free-trade deal that covers 12 regional economies. Trump had also shocked global markets by threatenin­g to tear up existing free-trade pacts involving the United States.

The leaders in their statement vowed ‘‘to roll back protection­ist and trade-distorting measures, which weaken trade and slow down the progress and recovery of the internatio­nal economy’’.

They also pledged to ‘‘refrain from competitiv­e devaluatio­n’’ of their currencies.

During the presidenti­al campaign, Trump repeatedly accused China of keeping the yuan undervalue­d to boost exports and threatened to declare Beijing a currency manipulato­r once in office.

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