Albanese says countries don't have to choose between free trade and securing supply chains
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The news: Countries do not have to choose between free trade and shoring up their supply chains, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will say at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit in a speech.
The context: Albanese is in the Peruvian capital of Lima for the summit where he and his counterparts are discussing how to brace for US president-elect Donald Trump’s promised tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese goods and 20% on other countries.
But the summit also comes as countries have increasingly been pouring money into bringing supply chains back home, including through massive government subsidies like Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
In a speech Albanese will deliver at the summit on Friday morning local time (Saturday Australian time), he will say that countries do not have to choose between “deepening our engagement in the region or strengthening our supply chain resilience” because “robust, rules-based trade enables and encourages us to do both".
The prime minister will also outline how clear it is that every APEC economy is grappling with the same set of fundamental challenges — a worldwide surge in inflation, an energy crisis and the devastating toll of the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts.
He noted that co-operation between countries was fundamental in meeting the challenges the countries faced.
What they said: “Open, inclusive, rules-based trade remains the best course and surest way to grow our economies and lift the living standards of our citizens,” Albanese will say, according to a draft of the speech.
“... when we invest in our economic and energy security, our industrial base and manufacturing capacity, we are investing in diversifying our economy and our exports."
“Small and medium businesses make up 97% of APEC — and employ over half the workforce. There are hundreds of millions of people who stand to benefit from the work we can do to modernise and strengthen trade rules," he will say.
“To make digital and paperless transactions simpler and more secure. To support small businesses gaining access to the biggest possible marketplace — the fastest growing region of the world in human history.
“To back the start-ups and breakthroughs in clean energy technology that will help take us to net zero. And to champion a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, making sure that women have an equal opportunity to turn their ideas into success stories.
“All of this is about taking a framework built in the 1990s, beyond the 2020s."
The source: Prime Minister's Office
