As Trump skips APEC, China’s Xi fills the void with message on trade

October 31, 2025 3:49 PM

As Trump skips APEC, China’s Xi fills the void with message on trade

As Air Force One took off from South Korea's Busan airport after U.S.-China talks on Thursday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping's Hongqi N701 limousine whisked him off to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit some 50 miles (80km) away. The split-screen moment captured a shift in global economic leadership: U.S. President Donald Trump heads home after a 24-hour visit, while China's leader settles in for a festival of multilateral diplomacy that America now sees as an afterthought. This encapsul...

APEC highlights ‘fundamental challenges’ in global trade as tariffs overshadow meeting

May 16, 2025 4:41 PM

APEC highlights ‘fundamental challenges’ in global trade as tariffs overshadow meeting

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group adopted a statement on Friday that cited "fundamental challenges" facing the global trading system, but stopped short of discussing a joint response to U.S. tariffs looming large over its meeting. The annual gathering is the first major multilateral trade gathering since U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs that hit more than half of the 21 members of the bloc with U.S. import duties in excess of the 10% minimum. ...