"Securing a Meeting with Greer Is the Top Priority for Each Country"
As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting opened on May 15 at the Jeju International Convention Center (ICC), Bloomberg reported that participating countries are competing to meet with Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative (USTR), rather than focusing on the original agenda of multilateral trade.
This meeting serves as a venue to coordinate trade agendas ahead of the APEC Summit to be held in Gyeongju in October or November. However, Bloomberg predicted that most attendees would seek to hold talks with Representative Greer to mitigate the impact of the Donald Trump administration's trade policies, rather than participate in the official events.
David Boling, Director for Japan Trade at the Eurasia Center and a former USTR official, said, "Securing a one-on-one meeting with Representative Greer will be the top priority for many trade ministers," adding, "They want to have even a brief discussion with Representative Greer to talk about the impact of tariffs on their own economies." He also noted, "Representative Greer will be the busiest trade minister in Jeju."
Among the countries sending delegations to this meeting, many?including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Vietnam?have been targets of President Trump's tariffs. Due to the effects of these tariffs, APEC has revised its 2025 growth forecast for member countries downward from 3.3% to 2.6%.
South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ahn Dukgeun, will hold a bilateral meeting with Representative Greer on May 16 to discuss issues such as the 25% reciprocal tariffs announced by the United States and cooperation in industries including shipbuilding.
Bloomberg noted that Representative Greer's participation in the meeting could serve to counter China's efforts to form international coalitions among countries feeling pressure from the Trump administration's policies.
However, since Japan did not send a high-level official to this meeting, it appears unlikely that a bilateral meeting with Representative Greer will take place. Bloomberg explained that this move is interpreted as an attempt to buy time for better negotiations.
There is also interest in whether the United States and China, which agreed to reduce reciprocal tariffs through the 'Geneva Agreement,' will make progress in their discussions at this meeting. Li Chenggang, China's Vice Minister of Commerce and Chief International Trade Negotiator, who led the Geneva Agreement alongside Representative Greer, is also in attendance.
Bloomberg pointed out that with the focus solely on individual bilateral talks, APEC's goal of promoting free trade through multilateral cooperation could be sidelined.
Director Boling said, "Some APEC trade ministers may try to discuss the revitalization of multilateral trade at this meeting, but it will merely be an attempt to go against the prevailing trend."
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