DA NANG/Vietnam/, November 8. /TASS/. Russia hopes that the final document of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation (APEC) will be approved by all participants in the summit, including the United States, despite the changes in its stance on free trade, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"We hear the US approaches," he said commenting on remarks by US President Donald Trump who said that America needs "fair trade," not "free trade." "The negotiations go on, probably some compromise will be found, although the real US behavior in the global market does not depend on the wording of the common stance. It will be guided, above all, by its intentions expressed by President Trump during his election campaign, namely, to transfer production from abroad back to America."

Russia’ top diplomat noted that such a decision would have severe effects for global markets, considering the scale of the US economy. "Our partners and we will seek opportunities to take into account such changes in the US stance so that our economy and the country’s development plans are not affected," he noted.

Lavrov pointed out that the attitude towards protectionism had been the key issue at the APEC ministerial meeting, whose participants hammer out draft decisions for the leaders. "The most thorny issue is attitude towards protectionism, whether to condemn it or renounce it, that’s what most APEC members favor, or not to undertake additional commitments. That’s what the US administration is trying to do, which is reviewing [Barack] Obama’s approaches towards global trade and expresses doubts that the openness of the international trade system is a good thing for the US," Lavrov said.