Chinese President Xi Jinping will play a key role at the annual summit of Pacific Rim leaders in South Korea on Friday, as he is expected to hold talks with his Canadian, Japanese and Thai counterparts after securing a delicate trade deal with US President Donald Trump.
That deal – struck just before Trump left South Korea, skipping the main two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit – would further curb China’s rare earth exports that threatened to choke global supply chains.
Supporting supply chains is a key focus of this year’s APEC summit, held in the historic South Korean city of Gyeongju. The 21-member economic club aims to encourage cooperation and reduce trade and investment barriers, although decisions taken at meetings are non-binding and building consensus is increasingly difficult.
“As the free trade system undergoes dramatic changes, global economic uncertainty is deepening and the pace of trade and investment is slowing,” South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung told leaders gathered at the inaugural session on Friday.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant stood in for the absent Trump.
“Changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world,” Xi told the assembled leaders in a speech calling for the protection of the multilateral trading system and deeper economic cooperation.
“The rougher the sea, the more united we must be,” Xi said.
South Korean President said in a cautious tone
Chairing the summit, Lee said the Asia-Pacific region is at a critical juncture in the rapidly changing global economic order.
“It is clear that we cannot always be on the same side, but we must work together to achieve shared prosperity,” Li said. He said cooperation among APEC members is an “obvious solution” to current economic challenges.
The APEC region accounts for 50% of global trade and 61% of GDP.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko