Tomorrow, U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This major agreement will be one of the key topics debated at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. This historic meeting will mark an important turning point in international relations. This could not have come at a more important moment, as US-China relations spiral to new lows. The summit intends to provide a space to discuss multiple economic and political matters, with trade reform being one of the top priorities.
The expected meeting would be a follow-up to their first meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, back in 2019. During the short summit, Trump and Xi certainly did go deep. Their priority was to roll back the trade wars that had flared up through the course of Trump’s first term. Despite those good faith efforts, US-China tensions have skyrocketed once more. Things such as tariffs, trade deficits, and geopolitical rivalries have mainly driven this conflict.
At the beginning of this year, experts recommended that the new meeting format at APEC be used to confront these longstanding issues head-on. For both countries the stakes are high as they engage in the challenging mutual effort. These challenges impact not only their own economies, but global markets and international relations. The APEC summit would be an opportune time to do that. Most observers don’t expect the trade talks to wrap up even after the next several scheduled meetings, including an anticipated summit in South Korea.
The world’s eyes are still locked on the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting. Its results have the potential to significantly shape the future of US-China relations. Negotiations can only achieve real progress if both leaders enter these discussions ready to make compromises. They’ll have to get on the same page, too, on trade policies they’ve both promoted that’ve created economic buzz saws.