APEC Fact Sheet on 21^st Annual APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting Outcomes Creating Jobs, Growth, and Economic Opportunity with AELM Declaration & Annexes

Under the chairmanship of Indonesian President Yudhoyono, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and agreed today in Nusa Dua, Bali, on a comprehensive set of measures to increase economic growth and job creation by expanding trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Leaders committed to establish a fund to improve supply chain performance in the region, address local content requirements by agreeing on alternative ways to promote job creation and domestic manufacturing, establish a public-private dialogue on environmental goods and services, and take steps to combat illegal trade in wildlife. The United States supports these and other initiatives through technical assistance to help APEC developing member economies make and implement APEC policy commitments. These steps will help U.S. growth and jobs by expanding export opportunities in the world’s fastest growing region.

Since their first meeting at Blake Island near Seattle in 1993, APEC Leaders have come together annually to advance their shared trade and investment and economic growth objectives in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC’s 21 member economies comprise a market of 2.77 billion consumers, account for 44 percent of world trade, and represent 55 percent of global economic output (more than $38 trillion in 2011). Six of America’s 10 largest trading partners are in APEC.

The APEC Agenda: Creating Jobs and Growth

Strengthening regional economic integration will help U.S. businesses and workers compete more effectively in the Asia-Pacific. Strong, balanced growth in the APEC region helps keep U.S. businesses growing, innovating, and hiring. APEC serves as an incubator for policy innovation in the region, working to address barriers to trade and investment that U.S. companies face in the region, thereby creating new business opportunities, jobs, and buying power for Americans. Since APEC was created, average tariffs in the region have fallen from 16 percent to 5 percent – on a volume of $2.6 trillion of trade between the United States and the Asia-Pacific economies. Since 1993, U.S. exports to other APEC member economies have nearly tripled.

In 2011, APEC economies purchased 61 percent of total U.S. goods exports ($942 billion in 2011), and over 37 percent of U.S. private services exports (over $225 billion in 2011), supporting six million American jobs.

In Bali, APEC commitments were made under Indonesia’s three priority areas: 1) advancing the Bogor goals of free and open trade and investment; 2) improving physical, institutional, and people-to-people connectivity; and 3) pursuing economic growth that is both sustainable and equitable.
1. Achieving the Bogor Goals

APEC Ministers and Leaders agreed to:

• Fight new forms of protectionism including localization barriers to trade by establishing a trade-enhancing model to create jobs, increase competitiveness, and promote economic growth;
• Improve the regulatory environment in the region by reiterating their commitment to strengthen implementation of good regulatory practices, including through the use of additional tools, such as single location for regulatory information, regulatory planning, and periodic regulatory reviews; and
• Promote trade and investment in environmental goods and services by advancing implementation of APEC’s commitment to reduce tariffs to 5 percent or less by 2015, and establishing a public-private partnership to tackle non-tariff barriers in this sector.

2. Connectivity

APEC Ministers and Leaders agreed to improve physical connectivity, institutional connectivity, and people-to-people connectivity by agreeing to:

• Improve supply chain performance by establishing an APEC sub-fund mechanism to assist economies in addressing obstacles they face in implementing their APEC supply chain commitments in order to achieve APEC’s goal of a 10 percent improvement in supply chain performance by 2015;
• Endorse a framework to promote connectivity, a multi-year workplan on infrastructure and investment, and guidelines on delivering bankable projects;
• Promote cross-border mobility of students by establishing a visionary goal of one million student exchanges within the APEC region annually by 2020;
• Welcome progress on the Travel Facilitation Initiative to make travel in the region easier, faster, and more secure, particularly with respect to increasing tourism in the region; and
• Facilitate cross border movement of emergency personnel, goods and equipment in times of crisis.

3. Sustainable Growth with Equity

Promoting the “sustainable” and “inclusive” tenets of the 2010 APEC Growth Strategy, APEC Ministers and Leaders committed to promote growth that is both economically sustainable and equitable by agreeing to:

• Combat illegal trade in wildlife by taking action to reduce demand, increase public awareness of the impacts of wildlife trafficking, enhance cooperation between existing Wildlife Enforcement Networks within the APEC region, and treat wildlife trafficking crimes seriously, which calls to mind the recent UN statement urging its members to classify wildlife trafficking as a “serious crime”;
• Combat corruption, bribery, money laundering, and illicit trade, through the establishment of an APEC Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies (ACT-NET) that will strengthen informal and formal regional and cross-border cooperation among law enforcement;
• Create ethical business environments that support sustainable economic growth by strengthening ethical standards, and by encouraging private sector stakeholders to implement APEC’s high standard principles for codes of business ethics;
• Welcome the creation of the Policy Partnership on Food Security Roadmap towards 2020, identifying creative solutions to address food insecurity, reiterate their commitment to pursue and strengthen our cooperation in achieving sustainable food security, and reaffirm their commitment to refrain from imposing export restrictions or implementing WTO-inconsistent trade measures on food;
• Reaffirm the need to rationalize and phase out inefficient fossil-fuel subsides and to conduct peer reviews to improve reporting and reduction of such subsidies;
• Expand collaborative work on energy efficiency to support the Leaders’ aspiration to reduce APEC’s aggregate energy intensity from 2005 by 45 percent by 2035;
• Share innovative solutions to improve the sustainability of health care systems in the region for the health and wellness of citizens and the enhancement of productivity and economic growth; and
• Take action to expand economic opportunities for women, entrepreneurs, and small-business owners including skills and capacity building; addressing barriers to access to markets, financing, and technology; broadening data collection; identifying structural reforms; ensuring equal access to employment opportunities at all levels; and promoting the economic importance of greater inclusion.

APEC Economies – The Basic Facts

APEC’s member economies include: The United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Thailand, and Vietnam.

Number of Economies: 21 (6 of them among the top 10 U.S. goods export markets: Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Hong Kong)

Market Size: 2.7 billion consumers

Combined APEC GDP: $40 trillion in 2012 (56 percent of world economic output)

U.S. Benefits from Trade with APEC Economies

Total U.S.-APEC Trade: $2.6 trillion in goods and services in 2011 (60.9 percent of total U.S. trade)

U.S.-APEC Trade Increase: Goods and services trade up 162 percent from nearly $1 trillion in 1994

U.S. Jobs Supported by Exports: An estimated six million jobs

Existing U.S.-APEC Free Trade Agreements: Seven (Australia, Canada, Chile, Korea, Mexico, Peru, Singapore)

Top U.S. Markets in APEC:
Canada ($292.5 billion)
(Goods Exports 2012)
Mexico ($215.9 billion)
China ($110.5 billion)
Japan ($69.9 billion)
Korea ($42.3 billion)

Goods Exports to APEC: $942 billion in 2011 (60 percent of total U.S. goods exports)
Up eight percent from 2011
Up 85 percent from 2000
Up 162 percent from 1994

Key Export Categories:
Machinery ($139.6 billion)
(Goods 2012)
Electrical machinery ($116.1 billion)
Vehicles ($92.6billion)
Mineral Fuel (oil) ($63.2 billion)
Plastics & Rubber Products ($23.8 billion)

Manufacturing Exports: $813.8 billion in 2012
Up 6.3 percent from 2011

Agricultural Exports: $105.7 billion in 2012
Up 7.9percent from 2010

Top Agricultural Exports:
Soybeans ($21.2 billion)
Coarse grains ($8.4 billion)
Red Meats ($10.0 billion)
Cotton ($5.0billion)
Wheat ($4.7billion)

Services Exports to APEC: At least $225.8 billion in 2011 (39 percent of total U.S. private services exports)
Up 9.2 percent from 2010
Up 101 percent from 2000