Gyeongju, South Korea: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined Asia-Pacific leaders in calling for a stable and resilient trading system, in a signal to the United States and China to reach a long-term ceasefire in a trade war that has shaken the region’s economies.

But in a break with previous years, the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation did not repeat their endorsement of a “rules–based multilateral trading system” with the World Trade Organisation at its core, as this year’s APEC summit concluded on Saturday.

That line has featured in joint declarations issued at APEC summits for at least the past four years, and its absence comes after US President Donald Trump upended global trade by imposing tariffs on almost every country as a negotiating tactic to secure in

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