US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping arrive Thursday in Lima for an Asia-Pacific summit overshadowed by the prospect of a world embroiled in trade wars under Donald Trump.
Biden and Xi are due to hold a bilateral in Peru Saturday — the second and final day of a heads-of-state meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping.
APEC, created in 1989 with the goal of regional trade liberalization, brings together 21 economies that jointly represent about 60 percent of world GDP and over 40 percent of global commerce.
On Thursday, APEC ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, held their own meeting behind closed doors in Lima to set the tone for the two-day summit to follow.
The APEC program was to focus on trade and investment for what proponents dubbed inclusive growth.
But uncertainty over Trump’s next moves following his November 5 election victory now clouds the agenda — as it does for the COP29 climate talks under way in Azerbaijan, and a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week.
With the US president-elect having signaled a confrontational approach to Beijing for his second term in the White House, Saturday’s face-to-face between Xi and Biden will be a closely-watched affair.
It will likely be the last meeting between the sitting leaders of the world’s largest economies before Biden hands the reins back to Trump, a US administration official said.
Biden and Xi will “take stock of efforts to responsibly manage competition,” said the official.
‘America First’
The summit will also bring together leaders and senior officials from Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia and Indonesia, among others.
President Vladimir Putin of APEC member Russia will not attend.
Trump’s “America First” agenda, with protectionist stances on global commerce, fossil fuel extraction and foreign conflicts, is threatening alliances Biden had built on issues ranging from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to climate change and trade.
The Republican president-elect has threatened tariffs of up to 60 percent on imports of Chinese goods in an attempt to balance bilateral trade.
China is grappling with a prolonged housing crisis and sluggish consumption that can only be made worse by a new trade war.
But economists say punitive levies will likely also harm the American economy and affect trade with its neighbors and with Europe.
‘Criminals and drugs’
China is an ally of Western pariahs Russia and North Korea, and is building up its own military capacity while ramping up pressure on Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory.
It is also expanding its reach into Latin America through infrastructure and other projects under its Belt and Road Initiative.
Xi will on Thursday inaugurate South America’s first Chinese-funded port, in Chancay, north of Lima.
Xi, in an article published in El Peruano newspaper, said China was ready to work with Peru to “practice true multilateralism, promoting an egalitarian and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.”
Biden, meanwhile, will on Friday meet Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol — key US allies in Asia.
Before leaving Tokyo for the summit, Ishiba said the talks would seek to “confirm and enhance” trilateral cooperation.
He told reporters efforts were being made to secure a meeting with Xi.
“There are issues between the two countries. But there are also issues that we must work together on. I would like to have a frank exchange of opinions on these issues,” said Ishiba.
About meeting Trump, “nothing concrete has been decided,” the prime minister added.
China isn’t the only country in Trump’s economic crosshairs.
The incoming US leader has threatened tariffs of 25 percent or more on goods coming from Mexico — another APEC member — unless it stops what he called an “onslaught of criminals and drugs” crossing the border.
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