HONOLULU — A push to build a Pacific free trade bloc gained ground Friday with Japan’s decision to join in, as Asian-Pacific leaders gathering in Hawaii for an annual summit mulled ways to prevent the crisis in Europe from derailing the global recovery.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in opening a meeting of foreign and economic ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that many forces outside the region will have an impact on it.
“Global trends and world events have given us a full and formidable agenda,” Clinton said. “And the stakes are high for all of us,”
The weekend summit of the 21-member APEC, which brings together leaders from Russia to Chile, is focused on creating jobs and business through nuts-and-bolts measures such as investment in infrastructure and reforms aimed at providing more access to financing for the poor.
Such moves are gaining urgency, with the European Union warning of a possible “deep and prolonged recession” next year as the debt crisis that has engulfed Ireland, Portugal and Greece shows signs of spiraling out of control. A European recession would be felt sharply in the U.S., where growth is already anemic, and in Asia, which relies on Europe as a big market for its cars, clothing, consumer electronics and other exports.
That spells trouble for economies big and small in Asia, the region so far least affected by the malaise in the West whose dynamism is crucial for a global recovery.
“In the coming 12 months there is quite a strong likelihood that things will go worse,” Hong Kong’s chief executive, Donald Tsang, told a gathering of business leaders on the sidelines of the APEC meetings. “Global performance will be dragged down and then there will be an awakening, I hope,” he said.
As host of the annual summit, the U.S. has made expanding trade, promoting green growth and deepening cooperation on regulation and standards to help dismantle barriers to trade and nurture faster growth.
“We’ve even created an unofficial slogan: ‘Get Stuff Done,” Clinton said.
The U.S. also is hoping to garner support for the comprehensive regional free trade pact that many APEC members see as a building block for an eventual regionwide free trade zone that would encompass more than half of world economic output.
That goal advanced Friday with Japan’s announcement that it will seek to join the bloc, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite strong opposition from farmers fearful of exposure to greater foreign competition.
The Pacific trade pact, known as the TPP, now includes Chile, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore — all relatively small economies. The U.S., Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru are negotiating to join. The participation of Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, would vastly expand its reach.
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