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Doug Krizner: President Bush is in Sydney this week for an Asia Pacific economic conference, but he’s leaving the summit a day early and that might not sit well. Marketplace’s Janet Babin reports from North Carolina Public Radio.

Janet Babin: The Asia-Pacific conference called APEC is one of the largest gatherings of world leaders. With members like China and Russia, APEC accounts for more than half of the world’s economy and almost half its trade.

President Bush is leaving the summit early this year. He wants to be back in the U.S. in time for the Iraq Report to Congress. Donald Straszheim with Roth Capital Partners says the President’s early exit could be taken the wrong way:

Donald Straszheim: Asia is going to be the center of economic growth for the foreseeable future. We need to be fully engaged with all of Asia and I’m afraid we’re not as engaged as we ought to be.

Straszheim says Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has taken the lead on strategic trade talks in the region, but a U.S. absence at the summit could give China a leg up on trade deals with emerging market powerhouses like Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The summit will focus on global warming and trade.

I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.