Trump-Xi Meeting Looms Over APEC Conf. 10/29 06:15

   

   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea this week will host leaders from 
major Pacific Rim economies, including the United States, China and Japan, for 
an annual summit that has long championed free trade.

   But this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings come as U.S. 
President Donald Trump continues to send shock waves around the world with his 
sweeping tariffs and other measures upending the postwar global trade order, 
unsettling both allies and rivals.

   The multilateral gathering in Gyeongju is expected to be overshadowed by a 
sideline event -- a face-to-face meeting on Thursday between Trump and Chinese 
leader Xi Jinping -- as their intensifying trade war leaves the South Korean 
hosts in a difficult balancing act.

   Here's look at this year's APEC meeting:

   APEC's makeup

   Established in 1989 as a 12-member forum to promote free trade and economic 
cooperation, APEC now has 21 members, including the United States, South Korea, 
China, Japan, Australia and Russia. The members wield significant collective 
weight, accounting for 37% of the world's population and more than half of 
global trade in goods as of 2024, according to South Korean government data.

   Each year, one of APEC's members hosts the annual leaders' meeting, serving 
as its chair. A flurry of high-level bilateral meetings typically take place on 
the sidelines of APEC's main conference, underscoring the forum's role as a 
platform for dialogue and cooperation.

   This year's summit will be held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 in the southern city 
of Gyeongju, a cultural hub home to three UNESCO World Heritage sites.

   APEC has a narrow focus limited to trade and economic issues and has no 
military component. Still, experts say APEC's strength is its ability to bring 
together countries that might otherwise compete aggressively or even clash, 
enabling collaboration on major initiatives, though without binding agreements.

   In the buildup to the summit, members hold a series of ministerial and other 
meetings to discuss practical cooperation on various issues, and economists 
have credited the forum with helping reduce tariffs and other trade barriers in 
past years.

   "While APEC is inherently a loose organization and has its limitations, it 
has carried symbolic significance as all the leaders come together, and even if 
discussions were somewhat vague, they could still gain influence over time," 
said Kim Tae-hyung, a professor at Seoul's Soongsil University. "But the 
atmosphere is completely different this year and we might not see the usual 
range of discussions or topics that were often addressed at the forum."

   Different landscape in 2025

   Having last chaired APEC in 2005, during the height of postwar 
globalization, South Korea now faces a far trickier challenge as host, 
navigating a trade landscape transformed in the months since Trump returned to 
the White House.

   Long shaped by the United States and its allies promoting free trade and 
multilateralism, the forum now faces a stark contrast under Trump, whose steep 
tariffs and unilateral trade measures have shaken its closest allies.

   "The United States drove the launching of APEC with the goal of expanding 
global cooperation under a rules-based international order, but now, the Trump 
administration is precisely rejecting all of that," said Park Won Gon, a 
professor at Seoul's Ewha Womans University.

   The situation is likely to force APEC's pro-American members -- particularly 
host South Korea -- into a delicate balancing act, calibrating their diplomatic 
and public messages to advocate free trade without alienating Washington, while 
trying to prevent China from seizing the stage as a self-styled defender of 
global order, Park said.

   Trump and Xi are expected to meet

   The main event will likely be Thursday's bilateral in Busan between Trump 
and Xi, their first since the U.S. president began his second term.

   Trump and Xi in recent months have been locked in an escalating trade war, 
with Washington imposing high tariffs and tightened technology controls and 
China retaliating with curbs on rare earth shipments, one of its key sources of 
leverage.

   It's unclear whether either leader will be willing to make major 
concessions, but it's possible the meeting could ease tensions, said Ban Kil 
Joo, a professor at South Korea's National Diplomatic Academy.

   They likely wouldn't meet if they weren't confident about reaching some sort 
of agreement, Ban said.

   Trump's meeting with Xi will come after his bilateral talks with South 
Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Gyeongju on Wednesday. Trump's trip to South 
Korea will follow a visit to Japan where he met the country's new prime 
minister, Sanae Takaichi, who is also expected to attend the APEC forum.

   Both Seoul and Tokyo have pledged hundreds of billions in U.S. investments 
while seeking to avoid the Trump administration's highest tariffs, which they 
fear would batter their auto industries and other major exports. However, 
Washington and Seoul have struggled to reach a deal, with South Korean 
officials rejecting U.S. demands for upfront payments, which they fear could 
trigger a financial crisis, and proposing loans and loan guarantees instead.

   Addressing free trade

   South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun in a radio interview last week said 
it could be difficult for APEC leaders to issue a joint statement strongly 
endorsing free trade, given their differing positions. He instead anticipated a 
broader declaration emphasizing peace and prosperity in the Pacific region.

   Instead of being caught up in the Washington-Beijing rivalry, South Korean 
should use its role as chair to convey a message from "middle power" nations 
promoting free trade and global cooperation, said Choi Yoon Jung, an analyst at 
Seoul's Sejong Institute.

   "APEC's strength is that we can bring together countries engaged in disputes 
and let them discuss practical cooperative steps, even when there could be no 
immediate, substantial breakthroughs," Choi said.

   South Korean officials said this year's APEC meeting will also address the 
rising role of artificial intelligence and demographic challenges faced by 
developed economies, including low birth rates and aging populations.

   "Different countries have different issues related to population, but 
artificial intelligence is a crucial issue for the entire world, for which no 
regulatory norms or standards exist to govern it," said Park, adding that it 
would be meaningful for technology-savvy South Korea to carve out a role in 
developing norms and standards for AI.