Globalization isn’t vanishing; it’s changing. This was highlighted by Citi chair of the board and chief executive officer Jane Fraser when she delivered a keynote address to the APEC ( Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ) 2025 CEO summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 31.

Fraser says growth is becoming more balanced, more digital, and more distributed. “The APEC economies sit at the centre of that change – together accounting for 61% of the global GDP and over half of the global trade,” she adds.

For globalization to endure, Fraser argues that growth must be widely shared. Asia’s rising middle class will represent two-thirds of global consumers by 2030. That will create new markets for US exports and expand opportunities for emerging economies.

Manufacturing excellence in the APEC economies is now being matched by the expanding services trade – in finance, technology, education, and entertainment. Digital services alone have grown by more than three percentage points of exports since 2012.

“This is where APEC can lead,” she says, “pairing world-class innovation and capital with deep production capability and a youthful consumer base across Asia and the Pacific.”

Fraser describes US-Asia trade as one of the fastest-growing corridors. She notes that across the APEC economies, resilience has become a shared advantage, and such resilience is taking shape in real time.

Regional connectivity

Recent bilateral agreements between the US and China, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia are practical steps towards strengthening trade stability and regional connectivity. “They’re reminders that cooperation remains the foundation of resilience, even when competition is part of the equation,” she points out.

Fraser says the next industrial era is taking shape across the APEC economies – powered by technology, clean energy, and digital connectivity. Since 2020, she notes that more than US$200 billion in private capital has flowed into frontier technologies across APEC. Generative AI alone accounts for over half of that, while investments in robotics and decentralized finance are accelerating rapidly.

And while the US remains the world’s largest investor in AI – at about US$109 billion last year – the economies throughout Asia are driving application and scale.

Together, the APEC economies are forming a dynamic innovation loop: pairing North American R&D and venture capital with Asia’s manufacturing depth and speed. That partnership is delivering breakthroughs that benefit the world.

Clean energy investment tells a similar story, according to Fraser. Energy-transition spending across APEC now averages 2% to 3% of the GDP annually. Central to this effort is China, the leader in electric vehicle ( EV ) and battery exports. Korea and the US are expanding the next-generation semiconductors and energy storage. And Japan and Australia are advancing hydrogen and carbon capture.

Thailand is also witnessing this transition with the emergence of EV supply chains, alongside the traditional ones. Chinese EV manufacturers are building in parallel with Japanese firms long anchored in internal combustion engines.

Digital infrastructure is the connective tissue, says Fraser. Data centres are rising in Singapore and Malaysia. Fintech platforms are scaling in the Philippines, Chile and Mexico. “In many ways, APEC is where the future is being built – one network, one innovation, one connection at a time,” she adds.