Trump-Xi meeting looms over APEC conference in South Korea as free trade falters

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:

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.”

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.

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.

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.

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, western Japan, on June 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - Shipping containers are seen ready for transport at the Guangzhou Port in the Nansha district in southern China's Guangdong province, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump, left, greets South Korean President Lee Jae Myung upon his arrival at the White House, on Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, on April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s ruling conservative Bhumjaithai Party on Friday moved closer to forming a new government after the Pheu Thai Party, the third place finisher in the country’s general election, agreed to join it in a proposed ruling coalition.

Bhumjaithai won 193 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives in Sunday’s election, according to unofficial results from the Election Commission, positioning it to return incumbent Prime Minister Anutin Charnviraku l to office with a Cabinet of his choosing.

The populist Pheu Thai Party, backed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, finished third with 74 seats. Together, the two parties would command 267 seats, surpassing the 251 seats required for a majority. Several smaller parties also pledged their support.

“Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai will look into the future. We agreed that both our parties have people with abilities great enough to lead Thailand into a stable and sustainable future,” Anutin said in a news conference.

He was joined by Pheu Thai leaders, including Yodchanan Wongsawat, a nephew of Thaksin who had been the party’s candidate for prime minister.

The two parties had previously partnered after the 2023 election, when Pheu Thai — then the second-largest party — led negotiations as the senior partner in their government-to-be.

That alliance collapsed last year following controversy surrounding then-Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, over border tensions with Cambodia. Anutin then secured enough parliamentary support in September to become prime minister.

Addressing their past disputes on Friday, Anutin said that "We must erase everything and move forward.”

Bhumjaithai has announced that six smaller parties with a combined eight seats have also pledged to join its coalition.

The progressive People’s Party, which finished second with 118 seats, has ruled out joining a Bhumjaithai government.

Pheu Thai’s result was considered its worst performance in decades. Electoral politics since 2001 had been dominated by populist parties loyal to Thaksin, who served as prime minister until he was ousted by an army coup in 2006, setting off a tussle for power against Thailand’s conservative royalist-military establishment.

The party alienated some pro-democracy supporters in 2023 by breaking its campaign promise not to align with pro-military parties and instead formed a government including them.

Last year it angered conservatives when Paetongtarn was found to be too chummy with Cambodia’s leader Hun Sen in a leaked phone call. She was kicked out of office for an ethics violation, giving Anutin his chance to take her place.

“For the first time in its history, (Pheu Thai) will be a mid-sized party that can at most play the role of a junior coalition partner," said Ken Lohatepanont, a University of Michigan doctoral candidate in an online commentary on Thai politics. Especially galling was losing all the seats it had held in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Thaksin’s hometown.

He and other election observers suggest that for Bhumjaithai to establish a more stable government, it will invite another major partner — either the fourth-place Kla Tham Party, with 58 seats, or the Democrat Party, Thailand’s oldest, with 22.

Thailand’s business conmmunity hailed Bhumjaithai’s decisive victory, with the hope that it would bring stability as the country struggles with a lagging economy.

Negotiations on forming a new government unfolded amid mounting allegations of electoral irregularities, prompting frustrated voters to stage protests in several parts of the country. Demonstrators called for recounts and, in some constituencies, fresh by-elections.

The Asian Network for Free Elections, one of the observer groups in the polls, said the vote was conducted in a generally peaceful and orderly manner. But it flagged “procedural irregularities in several polling stations,” including inadequate public information and inconsistent access for election observers.

The legal monitoring group iLaw, which also observed the election, reported receiving more than 4,000 complaints. These included cases where the number of ballots exceeded the number of eligible voters, officials denying observers access to vote counting, disputes over recount requests, and inaccuracies in the recording of final tallies.

Election results must be certified within 60 days of the election before Parliament can convene and elect a new prime minister.

FILE - Pheu Thai Party's prime ministerial candidate Yodchanan Wongsawat attends an election campaign rally in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Kittinun Rodsupan, File)