APEC Summit Opens in South Korea as Leaders Seek Trade Consensus

The leaders of twenty-one Asia-Pacific economies gathered in the South Korean city of Gyeongju on Friday to confront a question that has haunted global commerce for years: how to keep trade open when so many nations are building walls.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit brought together presidents, prime ministers, and representatives from international organizations for a two-day forum framed around resilience and growth. The timing was deliberate. Unilateral trade barriers are rising. Supply chains remain fragile. The consensus that once held the world's largest trading bloc together has fractured. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended. So did Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Donald Trump, the American president, did not—he had already left after a business forum and bilateral talks with South Korea's Lee Jae Myung and Xi.

Lee opened the proceedings by welcoming his counterparts and framing the work ahead under the theme "Towards a More Connected Resilient Region and Beyond." The presidential office described his role as that of a bridge, someone tasked with building consensus among leaders who do not always see eye to eye. South Korea, as this year's host, wanted to produce something tangible: a declaration endorsed unanimously by all participants, a document that would signal the region's commitment to collaboration and position APEC as relevant for the future. The country also planned to spotlight its own priorities—artificial intelligence, demographic change—as part of the broader conversation.

Over two sessions, the leaders would review recommendations from their foreign and trade ministers on how to make the Asia-Pacific more prosperous. The focus areas were familiar: strengthening supply chains, accelerating digital transition, addressing environmental concerns. But beneath these technical discussions lay a deeper tension. The world's trading nations do not agree on what the rules should be.

For the past four years, every APEC summit declaration had included a specific phrase: commitment to a rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization "at its core." That language first appeared in 2021, after Trump's first term ended and the United States had rejoined the multilateral consensus. Now, with Trump returning to office and trade nationalism rising globally, that consensus was being tested. A leaders' declaration requires unanimous support—a single dissenting voice can block adoption.

On Thursday, as ministers wrapped up their preparatory session, South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the forum was "very close" to adopting a joint declaration, with last-minute negotiations still underway. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo reported broad agreement on supply chains, digital transition, and environmental cooperation, calling these "the core of today's trade agenda and the pillar of the future economy." But he also signaled a shift in thinking. While the multilateral WTO system would remain the foundation, he said, nations were also exploring what he called "plurilateral cooperation"—agreements among smaller groups of countries rather than the whole.

It was a telling phrase. Plurilateralism is what you pursue when the grand consensus breaks down, when you can no longer wait for every nation to agree. Whether the leaders would formally embrace this approach, or whether they would find a way to reaffirm their commitment to the broader multilateral order, remained to be seen. The declaration was expected by Saturday, when the leaders would hold their final retreat. What it would say about the future of global trade—and whether it would hold—was still being written.