\n With Trump choosing to skip the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation \u2013 which groups together countries accounting for more than half of global trade \u2013 Xi stepped into the limelight and will hold high-profile meetings, including with Japan\u2019s new leader Sanae Takaichi and Canada\u2019s Mark Carney.\n <\/p>\n
\n Despite his absence, Trump\u2019s protectionist trade policies and punishing global tariffs loom over the two-day event in the city of Gyeongju. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is standing in for Trump during the discussions.\n <\/p>\n
\n In his opening remarks to the forum, Xi called for unity and cooperation between the grouping of 21 economies on both sides of the Pacific.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe world is undergoing rapid changes unseen in a century,\u201d Xi told the forum. \u201cThe more turbulent the times are, the more we must stand together in solidarity.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cChina\u2019s door to openness will not close; it will only open wider,\u201d Xi said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Decisions made in Gyeongju are non-binding \u2014 and leaders have faced difficulty reaching consensus in the past including on thorny issues like Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. But a major focus for the forum this year is on strengthening supply chains and encouraging cooperation as economies worldwide reel from Trump\u2019s tariff offensive.\n <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/c-gettyimages-2243599909.jpg\")
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\n \u201cWe are standing at a critical inflection point with a rapidly changing global economic order,\u201d South Korean president and APEC chair Lee Jae Myung said in his address to the summit Friday. \u201cAs the free trade order undergoes dramatic changes, global economic uncertainty is deepening, and trade and investment are losing momentum.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Lee said that \u201conly cooperation and solidarity can surely lead us to a better future.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump\u2019s three-leg tour of Asia, which stopped in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, was generally regarded as a success for all parties, with Asian leaders putting on a masterclass in hospitality<\/a> and flattery as they sought to get the president on side \u2014 and ease trade negotiations in the process.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s meeting with Xi ended in a trade agreement that called for the US to lower tariffs on China by 10%, bringing the effective rate on Chinese exports down to 47%; and for China to delay some export controls on rare earths and resume purchases of American soybeans.\n <\/p>\n \n In Japan, Trump and freshly appointed Prime Minister Takaichi embarked on a \u201cnew golden age\u201d of relations and signed a critical minerals agreement. And a new trade deal reached with Lee would see South Korea invest billions of dollars in the US, including in shipbuilding, aerospace and technology, according<\/a> to the White House.\n <\/p>\n \n On Friday, Xi is expected to hold talks with Japan\u2019s Takaichi, a staunch conservative who has criticized China\u2019s growing military presence in the region and called for cooperation with Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own. Takaichi faces a tough balancing act in her meeting with Xi. China remains Japan\u2019s largest trading partner and Takaichi inherited a country facing mounting economic woes.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Xi also held meetings with Carney, who is involved in an escalating trade war with Trump, and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, according to Chinese state media.\n <\/p>\n \n In comments that echoed Xi and Lee\u2019s addresses to APEC, Carney told the forum that the world was \u201cfacing another hinge moment in history.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cOur world is undergoing one of the most profound shifts since the fall of the Berlin Wall,\u201d he said. \u201cThat old world\u2026 of steady expansion of liberalized trade and investment\u2026 that world is gone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Canada, he said, was aiming to double non-US exports over the next decade in an effort to diversify away from the US.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leaders of Pacific countries and territories, including China\u2019s Xi Jinping, are gathering in South Korea for a major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-235551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}