Why APEC Still Matters in a MAGA World | Ep. 20

Matthew P. Goodman, Distinguished Fellow for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), joins Eye on Korea to discuss this year’s APEC Summit in South Korea and why expectations should be modest.

Goodman outlines the three tiers of APEC and how this year’s policy agenda fits within its broader framework. He also highlights the importance of working-level meetings that quietly sustain regional cooperation throughout the yearlong buildup to the event.

The conversation explores how APEC’s long-standing mission of reducing trade barriers increasingly clashes with the U.S. shift toward tariffs and industrial policy, and how the geopolitics of tariffs are reshaping regional dynamics, including the U.S.–Japan investment deal and prospects for a U.S.–Korea trade agreement. Goodman also assesses whether Presidents Trump and Xi were ever on track for a trade breakthrough—and why that momentum stalled before APEC.

Korea, Japan, and Australia continue to have huge stakes in the U.S. security alliance and market access, Goodman argues, making decoupling very unlikely. Instead, allies may increasingly hedge by deepening participation in parallel trade arrangements such as the CPTPP, which remains an attractive vehicle for Indo-Pacific economies seeking stable and rules-based trade integration.

Like and subscribe to the Korea Economic Institute of America on YouTube for more U.S.-South Korea news, analysis, politics and more!

Social Links:

Website: https://keia.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/korea-economic-institute-of-america/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KoreaEconInstitute/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koreaeconinst/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/koreaeconinst

[KEI is registered under the FARA as an agent of the KIEP, a public corporation established by the government of the Republic of Korea. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.]