APEC Leaders: No Trade Barriers For 1 Year

Asia-Pacific Countries Pledge Free Trade, Vow To Return To Doha Talks

(CBS/AP)  Leaders from 21 nations that account for half the world's economy are pledging not to implement any protectionist measures for the next 12 months, no matter how punishing the global downturn gets.

The leaders are endorsing a declaration made at last weekend's summit in Washington, saying they won't raise new trade barriers over the next year.

They are also pledging to reach agreement next month on the outlines of a World Trade Organization pact that collapsed in July after seven years of negotiations.

A spokesman for the Japanese government said Saturday that concern over the global financial crisis revived willingness to push forward on the so-called Doha round of trade talks.

Addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima on Saturday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said the world must resist protectionist measures even if companies will keep going bankrupt and countless jobs will be lost.

U.S. President George W. Bush, attending his final global summit at a time of severe financial crisis, also said such measures would "stifle innovation and strangle growth."

He urged other countries on Saturday to spurn calls to erect protectionist trade barriers and keep pushing to liberalize trade, and to not repeat mistakes that turned a similar calamity seven decades ago into the Great Depression.

"One of the enduring lessons of the Great Depression is that global protectionism is a path to global economic ruin," Mr. Bush said in comments to business executives of Pacific Rim countries.

Mr. Bush said that because the economic problems are so widespread, all nations - both developed and developing - must work together to find solutions. He urged them to resist the "temptation to overcorrect" to fix the fiscal crisis. Mr. Bush has argued against over-regulating financial markets.

"Recovering from the financial crisis is going to take time, but we'll recover and so begin a new era of economic prosperity," he declared.

Mr. Bush was hoping to use his final APEC summit to get endorsement of a sweeping action plan to attack the global financial crisis that was drafted last week in Washington at a meeting of the Group of 20 nations, which include the world's richest economies plus major developing nations such as China, Brazil, India and Russia. Nine of the countries at the G-20 meeting are also members of APEC.

Mr. Bush said the APEC meeting could send a message that "we refuse to accept protectionism in the 21st century."

The APEC leaders were expected to commit to wrapping up the broad outlines of a free-trade agreement by the end of December.

However, some fear leaders will be unwilling to hold serious talks until U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. He did not send representatives to Lima.

Free Trade Pushed

The two-day summit was taking place following another bad week for financial markets as investors became more fearful about the prospects of a deepening global recession.

Mr. Bush said that when he took office, the United States had free-trade agreements in effect with only three countries. Now it has such pacts in force with 14 nations. To hearty applause, he called it "extremely disappointing" that the U.S. Congress adjourned without passing pending deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama.

Mr. Bush also said it was important for nations to push ahead to complete the global free-trade talks known as the Doha Round.

These discussions, which began seven years, ago have been stalled by disputes between rich and poor nations over farm trade and barriers to manufactured goods.

In addition to addressing the economic crisis, Mr. Bush used his discussions in Lima to provide renewed impetus to an effort to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons. North Korea has balked at allowing inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear complex.

Mr. Bush hopes to use his discussions with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and Russia to lock in an early December date when all six parties, including North Korea, will meet in China. The goal would be to get agreement on the verification of North Korea's nuclear declaration and disabling of its nuclear facilities.

At a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mr. Bush joked about his "forced retirement" on Jan. 20 when Barack Obama replaces him.

Harper: Bad Government Policies Caused The Great Depression

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the current economic crisis is potentially as dangerous as anything the world has seen since 1929.

And he said the world must learn the lessons from the Great Depression, which he says was not caused by a stock market collapse but by bad policies from governments, so as to avoid a repeat of history.

He said policy makers erred in allowing their banking sector to contract, deflation to take hold, attempted to balance government budgets when fiscal stimulus was needed, and closed doors to trade in an effort to protect domestic jobs.

Those are mistakes Canada would not make, he said in an address to the APEC summit on Saturday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was also among the leaders who arrived in Lima on Saturday morning to attend APEC.

Local newspapers reflected on the likelihood that the global financial crisis would dominate discussions at the summit.

On the streets of Lima on Saturday morning, massive security was deployed around the hotels hosting the different delegations.

Authorities in Lima declared Thursday and Friday public holidays in the capital in order to reduce traffic and ensure better security measures for the summit. Many Lima residents took advantage of the four-day-long weekend to leave the capital.

Yesterday, at least one thousand people protested in central Lima against the arrival of President Bush.

The protesters, who were called to action by one of Peru's main trade unions, also burned a rat effigy intended to represent Peruvian President Alan Garcia, among other political figures.

Union leaders blamed a poor turn out at the protest on a lack of public transport in the capital, because of the public holiday.

[txgrouch2007]

Lets make a trade agreement that works both ways.
Posted by kevinkkloste at 01:56 PM : Nov 22, 2008

Let''s get our definitions straight:

PROTECTIONISM: anything that would keep jobs for workers in the USA

FREE TRADE: anything that would reduce USA workers to slaves and eliminate the middle class

Our Presi(puke) - sorry, calling him President just made me puke - has just PLEDGED ONCE AGAIN TO PURSUE NOTHING BUT FREE TRADE.

Now that the election is over, out leaders are showing their true colors.

Pelosi is a Communist who wants to nationalize industry.

Barney Frank will keep doing what he''s been doing after his constituents said "Atta boy, carry on."

And George W Bush is THE ENEMY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

He HATES THE VERY ONES WHO VOTED FOR HIM - TWICE!!!

I will be sure to return the sentiments from NOW ON.

[txgrouch2007]

STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID

They have now sworn an oath to FORCE US ALL INTO SERFEOM by forcing the workers in established economies to compete head-to-head with workers in slave labor nations.

THEY WANT US TO BE SLAVES!!!!

I hope this will be one of the things Obama reversed when he takes office.

[mgpm-2009]

WE MUST BUY OUR OWN PRODUCTS, MADE IN THE USA TO GET OUR ECONOMY BACK ON TRACK.

How else are we going to create jobs? STOP buying junk made in CHINA---they have horrible human rights abuses in that country and they will put anything in their products (melamine, lead) to make them cheap. No concern for saftey, only profit. AND they don''t import much from us.

All those people who get out and wave flags on July 4, should demonstrate their patriotism by BUYING AMERICAN MADE PRODUCTS. It should be considted unpatriotic to buy a foreign car from now on...it should be considered unpatriotic to support CHINA or any other country over the US. Let''s get our nation back to work!!!!

[notfooled]

Ban all free trade agreements.

Bring jobs back to america

[whitemale08]

Mr. Bush, the world wants you to END THE PRIVATE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM NOW!!!!

THAT''S WHAT THE WORLD WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!

AND ALL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD HAVE ABOLISH THEIR PRIVATE CENTRAL BANKS TOO!!!!!

THAT'' THE ONLY WAY TO END THE IMPERIAL BRITISH IMF/WORLD BANK NIGHTMARE!!!!!!

[netbs9]

http://www.kudlowsmoneypolitics.b
logspot.com/
"Total compensation per hour for the big-three carmakers is $73.20.

Posted by jschmidt27 at 10:40 PM : Nov 22, 2008


That''s a total complete right wing lie

Kudlow is a pile of ***** like Bush/Cheney

And so is you

Now stop spreading your stupid right wing BS


UAW workers avg pay with bennies is around $28 per hour

Free trade is killing US manufacturing

And that all George dipstick can talk about this week

End

[jschmidt27]

rightbehind- the UAW doesn''t bargain for a fair wage- they hold a gun to the head of the automakers until they cave in. Now we see what that leads to. THe automakers can''t make a profit because the UAW makes too much.
http://www.kudlowsmoneypolitics.blogspot.com/
"Total compensation per hour for the big-three carmakers is $73.20. That%u2019s a 52 percent differential from Toyota%u2019s (Detroit South) $48 compensation (wages + health and retirement benefits). In fact, the oversized UAW-driven pay package for Detroit is 132 percent higher than that of the entire manufacturing sector of the U.S., which comes in at $31.59."

[jschmidt27]

Healthcare we are not the consumer of healthcare. THe employers are. They have the power to negotiate with the insurance companies not the employee. The employee needs to be able to directly deal with the insurance companies and pick and choose what he wants. A minimum coverage needs to be established with employers paying into a fund that is given out to employees. Govt will decide minimums and employer contributions. The only reason other countries are able to get better deals for drugs is the companies make up the difference with US prices. The US forces drug companies to take cuts may reduce research in drugs. Not good. Insurance adminstration costs are too high. But how much of that is the duplicate processes required by each company and the requirments of govt for documentation. THe VA has an adminstrative system using computer automation. That should be duplicated. But automatically setting up a 1 payer system is an entitlement we can''t afford.

[incog-nito]

One year? That should be enough time for the destruction of American''s economy to be complete.

[jschmidt27]

Up till March of this year we have hovered at or below 5% unemployment. From March it has increased to 6.5%. It may go up another half to full point. If 2.5 million jobs are created that will bring the rate down 2.5% to 4-5%, the same as in the Bush years. Even in the golden Clinton years it was 4.5 to 5%. So with unemployment Bush did as good as Clinton. And the hope is Obama will do as good as Bush-4.5 to 5%.