"We reaffirm our commitment to keep our markets open and to fight against all forms of protectionism," said the final statement from the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group. 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 rollback protectionist and trade-distorting measures, which weaken trade and slow down the progress and recovery of the international economy." 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.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 21, 2016 00:38 UTC