THE ANNUAL summits of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum became a fixture in the 1990s partly because the United States hoped to use them to open Asian markets. But President Bush's presence in Vietnam for this year's APEC gathering highlights faltering U.S. economic leadership. Mr. Bush hoped to arrive bearing Congress's blessing for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization. But this prize has eluded him. Meanwhile, the APEC summit has rekindled hopes of progress on the Doha round of international trade talks. But the U.S. ability to participate constructively in those talks will soon expire, because Mr. Bush's trade-promotion authority runs out next summer. A Democratic Congress seems unlikely to renew it....
