Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has been instrumental in promoting regional and global trade and investment since it was founded in 1989.

The 21 APEC economies collectively account for 44 percent of world trade and 54 percent of global GDP. The growth in U.S. goods exports to APEC clearly demonstrates the benefits of open markets. APEC countries consist of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Since 1994, U.S. exports to APEC economies increased by 137 percent.

In 2008, U.S. goods trade with the APEC economies totaled $2.1 trillion, up 7 percent from 2007. U.S. services trade with the APEC economies totaled $287 billion in 2007.

APEC has provided a forum for leaders to meet annually since 1993, when APEC leaders first met at Blake Island in the United States. The United States will host APEC again in 2011.

The United States worked closely with Peru, the APEC Chair in 2008, and other APEC economies in pursuing an ambitious trade and investment liberalization agenda with an eye toward reducing barriers to trade and facilitating the movement of goods and services in the region.

In 2008, APEC took steps to address the current global financial turmoil, to advance the World Trade Organization Doha Development Agenda (WTO/DDA) negotiations, to promote regional economic integration, to set high standards for FTAs, to spotlight the need for work on intellectual property protection and enforcement, to strengthen the safety of traded goods, ro expand work on the environmental goods and services sector, and to facilitate trade in information and communications technologies.

The United States will work with Singapore, the APEC Chair in 2009, to build on these initiatives and to take further concrete steps to promote economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.