Abe Keen to Make Pacific Rim Trade Deal
DANANG, Vietnam (AP) -- The Latest on the summit of 21 Pacific Rim economies in Vietnam (all times local):
6:10 p.m.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to do his utmost to get fellow leaders of countries participating in a Pacific Rim trade pact to stick with the plan despite the withdrawal of the U.S. from the deal.
Abe said Thursday that Japan is leading the effort among the remaining 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to revise the initiative during talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam.
He said Japan, as co-chair of TPP meetings taking place alongside the APEC summit, hopes to achieve a "basic agreement." Abe made the remarks before leaving for the summit in Danang.
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President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the TPP earlier this year. He is seeking to renegotiate several major trade agreements to, he says, put "America First."
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5:35 p.m.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says the United States is the first victim of "globalization" and that's why President Donald Trump is pushing back with an "America First" stance.
Duterte made the comments at a business conference on the sidelines of a regional summit. He said the flight of American manufacturing to China after it opened to foreign trade and investment hurt U.S. workers.
Duterte described how reforms launched by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s led the country to open its once-closed borders to foreign trade and investment. U.S. businesses were eager to take advantage of less expensive labor and lower taxes.
He said, "America was the first victim of globalization and that is why Trump is trying to lure them back and said 'America First.'"
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1:45 p.m.
Talks aimed at salvaging a Pacific Rim trade pact rejected by President Donald Trump have resumed on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam.
Trade and foreign ministers of 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership met Thursday seeking to agree in principle on how to proceed without U.S. involvement after Trump pulled out earlier this year.
The meeting is being held on the sidelines of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, whose annual summit in Danang, Vietnam, begins on Friday.
(KA)