Obama says no to Copenhagen climate deal, reports the Financial Times. That's the big news today: Apec leaders drop climate target, reports the BBC.
World leaders meeting in Singapore have said it will not be possible to reach a climate change deal ahead of next month's UN conference in Denmark, it says.
The group dropped a target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which was outlined in an earlier draft.
Instead, they agreed "at a hastily arranged breakfast meeting" to "make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific 'politically binding' agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future", says the New York Times.
This CNN video shows the Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen arriving for the meeting. He is the chairman of the climate conference.
"Among the chief barriers to a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen was (the US) Congress’ inability to enact climate and energy legislation that sets binding targets on greenhouse gases in the United States. Without such a commitment, other nations are loath to make their own pledges," says the New York Times.
Obama urged to reduce trade barriers, says Canadian newspaper
The Globe and Mail in Canada reported yesterday:
Canada, China, Mexico and others are using a weekend meeting of Pacific Rim leaders to press the United States to reduce trade barriers it has thrown up in the wake of the global recession.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is rivalling U.S. President Barack Obama as the most influential political leader in the region, said protectionism could threaten a fragile economic recovery.
(Canadian) Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been pushing that message at various international leaders summits for more than a year.
"There are obviously things with China on which we don't agree, but when it comes to economics, China is a strong voice for opening up trade internationally," Harper said Saturday. "That's a strong position of the government of Canada to promote free trade and oppose protectionism."
In speech after speech on the first day of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, one leader after another took to the podium to hammer the U.S. for its rising protectionist sentiment.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized the United States for "going in the opposite sense of free trade" and singled out the U.S. Congress for championing "the old wrong idea of protectionism."
Calderon said U.S. protectionism was "killing North American companies."
China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming was less direct but it was not difficult to guess who he was referring to when he said so-called safeguard measures "by a certain large country" violated international trade agreements.
Question raised by Wall Street Journal
Obama said yesterday that America will take part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade area which currently groups Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.
"But it was unclear whether U.S. interest in the Trans-Pacific Partnership bloc… represents a significant change in policy for the Obama administration, which put new trade deals on hold earlier this year as it reviews its trade policies amid rising protectionist rhetoric at home," said the Wall Street Journal. It added:
It's also far from certain the Obama administration will be willing to expend the political capital at home needed to carry the talks to fruition.
Although touted by free trade advocates, the combined size of the four economies in the pact is smaller than Belgium's economy. Moreover, Washington has a number of much-larger trade deals, including with South Korea and Colombia, that have been negotiated but are blocked by opposition from the U.S. Congress and are potentially much more significant for the U.S. economy.
The announcement by President Barack Obama during a speech in Tokyo, though, was welcomed by Asian leaders and U.S. business groups who were looking for at least some concrete sign his administration embraces free trade.
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