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Lima, Peru • The president of Peru has started off an Asian-Pacific trade summit with a warning about what he sees as a growing threat to global free trade.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said recent elections in the U.S. and Britain are evidence that "protectionist tendencies" are gaining ground. The economist and former Wall Street investor said anyone who wants to promote protectionism should, in his words, "read an economic history of the 1930s."

He did not directly mention U.S. President-elect Donald Trump or his opposition to free trade deals.

Kuczynski spoke at Friday's opening of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru. The summit is drawing leaders from around the world, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama for his final global summit.