APEC and to free trade

APEC and to free trade

The meeting last week of leaders from 18 Asian Pacific countries in Osaka, Japan, ended with what seemed like a whimper.

The leaders committed their governments to voluntary measures that would be announced at next year's gathering to lower barriers to foreign trade and investment. The commitment appeared small next to the bold declarations at last year's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that its members would create a free-trade zone by 2020.

But it was obvious then that some leaders did not mean what they had said. Malaysia, Japan and several other countries lobbied successfully in Osaka for a loosely-worded agreement that perpetuated disagreement over key questions, such as whether APEC had agreed to a binding deadline for eliminating protection from agriculture and other sensitive industries.

Free trade is a pleasant goal, but for these countries it is simply premature.

China is a good example. Its closed borders, contempt for patent and copyright protections and lack of legal protection for foreign investors make it ineligible for membership in the World Trade Organization, the new entity that oversees rules of fair trade.

A declaration by China that it plans to move toward free trade lacks credibility. Besides, the best way for Asian Pacific countries to achieve free trade is through the World Trade Organization rather than creating a separate trading bloc that discriminates against all excluded parties.

This year's meeting focused instead on useful steps to harmonize customs forms, adopt common product safety standards and eliminate other specific trade impediments. Japan and others also promised to speed up tariff reductions and other trade- liberalizing measures that were already under way.

The most sweeping promises came from China. It pledged to eliminate import quotas on about 170 products and to cut tariffs next year on thousands of items. That is a welcome step in its campaign to qualify for World Trade Organization membership. But China must do much more to achieve conformity with the international trading community. For starters, it must strictly enforce legal protections for traders, investors, authors and inventors.

The meeting was unspectacular but encouraging. The Pacific countries are moving slowly toward freer trade, while giving up the pretense that they will drop all trade barriers anytime soon.

-- The New York Times