APEC gathering kicks off in Gyeongju amid tensions over global trade
Senior officials from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies have gathered in the southeastern city of Gyeongju for this week's APEC summit, amid tensions over global trade and disruptions to supply chains, Yonhap reports.
The APEC gathering began with a two-day Concluding Senior Officials' Meeting (CSOM) to discuss final preparations for the summit on Monday. As the chair, South Korea is expected to share its progress on artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation and responses to demographic change during the meeting.
The results of the CSOM meeting will be reported to the APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM), scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. At the AMM, the foreign and trade ministers of the 21 APEC nations will discuss regional challenges and ways to promoted shared prosperity through digital cooperation, as well as measures to strengthen supply chains and boost trade.
The main APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will take place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, with eyes on whether the member countries will adopt the so-called Gyeongju Declaration amid growing challenges to free trade and multilateralism.
On the sidelines of the APEC gathering, President Lee Jae Myung will hold his second in-person summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to make a state visit to South Korea from Oct. 29 to 30.
Their meeting will draw keen attention as Seoul and Washington continue intense negotiations to narrow differences over South Korea's US$350 billion investment pledge aimed at finalizing a trade deal, which would lower U.S. tariffs on Korean goods from 25 percent to 15 percent.
On Saturday, Lee plans to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will make his first visit to South Korea in 11 years, to discuss ways to advance bilateral relations and regional security issues.
Separately, Trump and Xi are scheduled to hold a high-stakes summit on Thursday amid intensifying trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. It will mark the first time that the leaders of the United States and China will make simultaneous state visits to South Korea.
A summit meeting between Lee and Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is also being arranged.
According to reports, Trump is expected to deliver a keynote speech during the APEC CEO Summit but is unlikely to participate in the main APEC summit.
The APEC CEO summit, slated for Oct. 29-31, will bring together global business tycoons, including Jensen Huang, the CEO of AI chip giant Nvidia.
Earlier, it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had announced the 10% tariff increase on Canada after ad controversy.
