South Korea’s 2025 chairmanship of APEC has deftly handled the US shocks to multilateralism and open international trade, ensuring that APEC’s broad work program continues to benefit Asia Pacific economies. Yet the APEC consensus that has supported a WTO-based global trading system did not feature in the 2025 APEC Leaders’ Gyeongju Declaration. While other governments continue to support a WTO-based system, APEC is no longer primed to lead the charge to defend a rules-oriented order nor can they continue down the path of unilateral voluntary trade liberalisation. Instead, APEC stands to make its mark by facilitating many opportunities for voluntary cooperation to promote free and open trade.
Voluntary cooperation is the face of APEC’s future | East Asia Forum
