copyright 2009, The Washington Post SINGAPORE -- Hours after declaring that China's growing economic muscle doesn't pose a threat, President Barack Obama traveled Saturday night to this usually pro-American city-state to wrestle with another tricky issue: Is the United States itself the troublemaker? In Asia on an eight-day tour to reassert U.S. influence in the world's most economically buoyant region, Obama came to Singapore from Tokyo for a gathering of 21 Pacific Rim nations, an annual event that this year has put some of America's own policies in the line of fire. A chorus of complaints about U.S. trade policies largely drowned out grumbling over China's turbocharged export machine and threatened to put Obama on the defensive at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. China has ramped up its criticism in recent weeks of U.S. restrictions on imports. And in the hours before the president's arrival, leaders of Mexico, China and Russia broadly condemned protectionism. Obama had initially planned to arrive in Singapore after dinner Saturday but changed his schedule at the last minute to attend a banquet of heads of state here. He arrived in time to eat and change into this year's official APEC attire, a high-collared linen shirt billed as 'Asian fusion' by summit organizers. Since leaving Washington on Thursday, Obama has sought to show that he is more in synch with Asia than his predecessors, describing himself in Tokyo as 'America's first Pacific president' because of his upbringing in Hawaii and time spent in Asia as a boy, when he lived with his American mother and Indonesian stepfather in Jakarta. Hard economic facts, however, also have made Obama something of a Pacific supplicant. China is the United States' biggest creditor, holding more than $1 trillion of U.S. debt. And while the U.S. economy clambers slowly out of a deep slump triggered by last year's financial crisis, Asia has rebounded with vigor. Asian economies will grow by nearly 6 percent next year, compared with 1.5 percent for the United States, according to the International Monetary Fund. The United States remains by far the world's biggest economy. Its gross domestic product is five times as large as China's. But momentum is clearly moving Asia's way. China's economy, already surging this year by more than 8 percent, is expected to expand by 9 percent in 2010. While in Tokyo, Obama underlined the region's importance to the future economic well-being of the United States and said China's growth will help, not hurt, America's prospects. Endorsing free trade as the best engine of growth, he pledged to start negotiations over possible membership in an obscure trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But with other, far more significant trade accords -- including one with South Korea -- formally negotiated but stalled in Congress, there is skepticism that Obama's gesture will lead to much. Indeed, one of the main themes at this year's APEC conference is this: The United States talks a good game on free trade but too often lets politics interfere. The bluntest criticism, made just a few hours before Obama's arrival in Singapore, came from Mexico's President, Felipe Calderon, who accused the United States of moving 'in the opposite sense of free trade.' Chinese leader Hu Jintao and Russia's President Dmitri Medvedev, in separate speeches, also assailed protectionism. They didn't finger the U.S. directly, but they pointed in Washington's direction. China has been particularly vociferous in recent weeks with complaints that Washington is unfairly restricting imports. This follows a series of disputes involving car tires, steel pipes and other goods. Such complaints mark a curious reversal of roles: The United States established itself as a power in Asia at the end of the 19th century by championing free trade with China, a push that President William McKinley dubbed the 'open door' policy. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father, warned Friday that that the United States has lost its way on trade, declaring that it 'will have aircraft carriers' but no real clout unless it takes a page from China's playbook and puts economics at the center of foreign policy. If Washington continues on a course set under the Bush administration, added Lee, who goes by the title minister mentor, 'you are out of the economic race.' This will undercut America's role as a military power, too, he said. Obama has vowed to keep the United States in the contest but also wants to change the way the game is played, particularly with relation to China, which last year racked up a record $266 billion trade surplus with the United States. Heavily indebted American shoppers, Obama signaled in Tokyo, can no longer drive the world's economy. Hu arrived in Singapore -- a long-standing U.S. ally with close defense ties to Washington -- three days ahead of Obama and has worked hard to allay concerns about China's intentions. 'China cannot achieve development in isolation from the world, and the world needs China for development,' he told business executives. Hu, who will host Obama in Beijing on Tuesday, made no mention of his country's currency, which China's business competitors complain is unfairly undervalued. Instead, Hu, who is also chief of China's ruling Communist Party, warned against efforts to restrict Chinese exports and investment abroad, saying that 'protectionism will not help any country move out of the crisis. But Hu did pledge steps to address alarm in the United States and elsewhere over a global economic system that depends so heavily on American consumers. China, he said, will 'boost domestic demand' and 'vigorously expand the domestic market,' something Washington has long been seeking. But he provided no specifics. Few economists expect Chinese consumers to take up a role any time soon that is now played by legions of American shoppers, whose purchases -- and maxed-out credit cards -- have helped create China's economic miracle. Private consumption in China is just over one-eighth what it is in the United States. 