At APEC, China’s Xi Promises To Safeguard Free Trade As Trump Leaves After Fragile Trade Deal

Chinese President Xi Jinping took centre stage at the APEC summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Friday, casting China as the new global champion of free and open trade just hours after securing a fragile trade truce with US President Donald Trump.

Trump left South Korea early after the agreement, skipping the main two-day APEC leaders’ meeting and flying back to Washington for the White House’s annual Halloween event. The temporary truce cooled months of escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, which had disrupted supply chains and rattled global markets.

According to Bloomberg, Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One that the two leaders had “settled” a key sticking point in access to rare earth minerals, a sector where China holds dominant control.

“There’s no roadblock at all on rare earth,” Trump said, expressing confidence that trade barriers in the sector would “hopefully disappear from our vocabulary for a little while.”

With Trump absent, Xi used the APEC stage to highlight China’s commitment to the multilateral trading system and global economic cooperation, a role traditionally led by Washington.

“Changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world,” Xi told the 21-member bloc during a closed-door session, according to China’s foreign ministry.
“The rougher the seas, the more we must pull together.”

Xi urged APEC economies to protect global trade rules, boost cooperation, and resist protectionism. He positioned China as a predictable and stabilising force amid volatile geopolitical shifts.

Still, several Asia-Pacific nations remain cautious. While China talks free trade, many countries in the region are wary of Beijing’s expanding military influence, manufacturing dominance, and readiness to use export controls as leverage in disputes.

Representing Trump at the summit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended Washington’s tariff-heavy trade approach, saying the U.S. was merely “rebalancing its trade relationships” to create a stronger global economic foundation.

The truce has eased immediate fears, and the IMF has recently revised global growth expectations upward as market shocks stabilised. However, analysts warn that the peace could be temporary and that deeper structural differences between Washington and Beijing remain unresolved.

For now, Xi has seized the optics and the opportunity to present China as the protector of free trade, while Trump continues to prioritise domestic optics over global forums.

(With Reuters Inputs)

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