By HYUNG-JIN KIM, KIM TONG-HYUNG and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press
Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Asia-Pacific leaders his country would help to defend global free trade as U.S. President Donald Trump snubbed an annual economic regional forum. Xi took center stage at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that began Friday in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, as Trump left the country a day before the summit opened after reaching some deals with Xi meant to ease their escalating trade war. This year's two-day APEC summit has been heavily overshadowed by the Trump-Xi meeting that was arranged on the sidelines.
President Donald Trump says "there seems to be no reason" to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a "massive increase" of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi's moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is considering is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
President Joe 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." Biden spoke ahead of a meeting Friday in Peru with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The talks come amid heightened concerns about North Korea's growing military partnership with Russia and Pyongyang's stepped-up cadence of ballistic missile tests. White House officials are concerned that Pyongyang could be dialed up for more provocative action ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration and the early days of his administration.
