The Asia-Pacific region kicked off a major trade meeting Saturday to discuss the changing global trade landscape after U.S. President Donald Trump upended the old order with an "America First" policy that has sparked fears of protectionism.

The two-day gathering is the biggest since Trump took office in January and involves ministers from the United States, China, Japan and other members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping, which accounts for more than 40 percent of world trade.

As the meeting kicked off in Hanoi, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highlighted APEC's three decades of growth and said: "That's the proof of our group's effort on liberalization."