After US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a temporary truce on their trade war, leaders of 21 Asian and Pacific Rim countries are scheduled to conclude their annual economic meeting on Saturday, bringing relief to people all around the world.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organisation summit this year, which took place in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, was mostly overshadowed by Thursday’s Trump-Xi meeting, which resulted in the two leaders scaling back their prior actions and easing trade tensions.
This week, leaders of Pacific nations and territories, including Xi, arrived in South Korea for the APEC summit in which Trump was noticeably absent.
After striking agreement with Xi, Trump known for his disdain for multilateralism quickly left South Korea, giving the Chinese president the opportunity to steal the show during the meeting. Xi held high-profile meetings with Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Canada’s Mark Carney.
Trump’s punitive global tariffs and protectionist trade policies hover over the two-day summit in Gyeongju despite his absence. Trump is being represented in the summit by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Xi urged the group of 21 economies on both sides of the Pacific to unite and work together in his opening speech.
“The world is undergoing rapid changes unseen in a century. The more turbulent the times are, the more we must stand together in solidarity.
“China’s door to openness will not close; it will only open wider,” Xi said.
Gyeongju decisions are not legally enforceable, and leaders have often struggled to come to an agreement on difficult issues like Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, as industries around the world struggle with Trump’s tariff offensive, the forum’s focus this year is on bolstering supply chains and promoting collaboration.
“We are standing at a critical inflection point with a rapidly changing global economic order. As the free trade order undergoes dramatic changes, global economic uncertainty is deepening, and trade and investment are losing momentum,” said APEC chair and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday.
Lee added that “only cooperation and solidarity can surely lead us to a better future.”
In Japan, Trump and Takaichi sealed a crucial rare-earths and minerals deal and began a “new golden age” of relations. The White House announced on Wednesday that South Korea would spend billions of dollars in the US, notably in shipbuilding, aircraft, and technology, as part of a new trade agreement with Lee.
Meanwhile, Xi will have one-on-one discussions with Lee on Saturday. According to Seoul authorities, the discussions would cover measures to bring about denuclearisation and peace on the Korean Peninsula.