APEC leaders hold Lima summit as Trump prepares to return to office

LIMA, Peru — Leaders of Pacific Rim countries including the U.S. and China gathered Friday in Peru for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, the first major global summit since U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory.

The annual gathering brings together 21 economies that jointly account for almost two-thirds of global GDP and half the world’s trade, according to organizers.

Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden joined China’s President Xi Jinping, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and others as the world wonders how a new U.S. government might upend global dynamics.

Leaders and other representatives will hold closed-door discussions in the morning, following a welcome address by Peru's President Dina Boluarte that focused on the need to promote inclusive growth and reduce informal labor in APEC economies.

“Our objective is to level the playing field, providing all the necessary tools for inclusion in social, financial and commercial spaces,” Boluarte said. “We are convinced that growth starts with inclusion and that this is only possible through the empowerment of the citizenry that is the motor of our economies.”

Biden held meetings with Asian partners

APEC is bound to be one of Biden's last global summits before leaving office, and White House officials insist that his attendance as well as his subsequent visit to Brazil for the Group of 20 meeting next week will be substantive, with talks to focus on climate issues, global infrastructure, counter-narcotic efforts. The officials say Biden also will use the summits to press allies to keep up support for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s invasion and persist in negotiating an end to Israel's wars in Lebanon and Gaza.

For the first time since last year’s APEC forum, Biden will meet one-on-one with Chinese President Xi on Saturday. He met Peru’s Boluarte early afternoon Friday, and later with South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol and Japan’s Ishiba.

Biden praised the cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S. at countering what he described as North Korea’s “dangerous and destabilizing cooperation with Russia.” He celebrated the partnership between Japan and South Korea, two countries that have historical enmity but under Biden’s presidency are now tightening security and economic ties as their corner of the world becomes more complicated.

“This is likely to be my last trilateral meeting with this important group. But I’m proud to have helped be one of the parts of building this partnership, and I think it’s built to last. That’s my hope and expectation. I truly believe cooperation of our countries will be the foundation to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific for many years to come," Biden said.

Through a translator, Ishiba echoed the sentiment: “I look forward to furthering our partnership in response against North Korea and in many other areas.”

Xi has been claiming the spotlight at APEC

Still, analysts said Biden may be overshadowed at APEC by Xi, who on Thursday night started his visit by inaugurating a $1.3 billion megaport that is perhaps the clearest sign of Latin America’s ongoing reorientation in the region.

Xi also met with Yoon on Friday. The Chinese leader appealed to neighborliness and cultural affinity, urging closer ties including contacts both at the high level and among people, according to China's state broadcaster CGTN. Xi told Yoon that the two countries should work together to safeguard the international free trade system and ensure the stability of the global supply chains, as Beijing is bracing for the Trump administration. Trump has threatened to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods.

Beijing announced on Nov. 1 that South Korean citizens can travel to China visa-free for up to 15 days, a move seen as countering the U.S.-Japan-South Korea alliance.

Later, he held his first-ever meeting with Ishiba. Xi reaffirmed cooperation toward building stable and constructive relations between the two Asian rivals, Ishiba told reporters afterward. Ishiba also said he conveyed to Xi his concerns about escalating Chinese military activity in the region and expressed willingness to visit China, but that nothing concrete has been decided.

Xi also held bilaterals Friday with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Chile’s President Gabriel Boric and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, according to CGTN. On Thursday, he sat down privately with Boluarte.

Making the case for multilateralism

Addressing questions regarding an incoming Trump administration at the APEC CEO summit, Canada's Trudeau recalled the last time Trump took office, pledging to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement. Instead, he said, the nations worked hard to find ways to forge new terms, known as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, that served as proof trade can be beneficial to all parties.

“It wasn’t easy. And nothing is going to be easy this time,” Trudeau said. “Little secret: There is no American administration that is automatically easy for a Canadian government. They take a very robust look at their own interests and Canada adjusts.”

Likewise U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken used his 10-minute speech to champion more robust engagement with the world. Facing an audience seemingly drained by the long day of speeches, he joked: “I understand I’m the only thing standing between most of you and a Pisco sour” — Peru's national cocktail.

Although he didn’t mention Trump by name – nor his protectionist “America First” doctrine – Blinken offered a spirited defense of the Biden administration’s focus on reviving global relationships.

“Around the world we reimagined, re-energized, revitalized, strengthened and wove together our alliances and partnerships to try to advance an increasingly shared vision for a future,” he said.

He said Washington in recent years had stepped up involvement in multilateral organizations like APEC, saying such forums “are incredibly important. They concentrate minds.”

Discontent and demonstrations outside the APEC conference

Outside Lima’s Convention Center where APEC is sited, metal barriers and police equipped with riot gear are surrounding the perimeter. For the past two days, anti-government protesters angry about a recent spate of gang-fueled violence have shouted slogans demanding that their wildly unpopular president take action against the crime wave.

The rallies have devolved into scuffles with police, who used batons to drive away the more aggressive protesters on Thursday. As APEC leaders gathered on Friday, a few dozen protesters were stopped by security barricades several blocks from the convention center. Vastly outnumbered by riot police, they chanted against government corruption and denounced Boluarte for the deaths of dozens of protesters in the wake of her predecessor’s ouster.

“Why would we want APEC here when the investment is just going to line their pockets?” Maria Melendez, a 48-year-old tour guide said of corrupt government officials. “We’re hungry and they’re over there talking about billions of dollars. How is that going to help us?”

Mia Rivera, 58, held a portrait of the ousted president, Pedro Castillo, and said she was discouraged by the low turnout. She said the heavy police presence and memory of the violent crackdown against demonstrators in 2022 deterred many of her friends from marching this week.