Overview
- The Gyeongju Declaration reaffirmed the value of trade and investment, advanced market‑driven regional integration work and, for the first time, recognized cultural and creative industries as growth engines.
- Leaders endorsed companion documents on artificial intelligence and demographic change, with Seoul touting the first AI vision jointly backed by the U.S. and China and proposing an Asia‑Pacific AI Center.
- South Korea formally passed the APEC chair to China, and President Xi Jinping announced Shenzhen as the host city for the 2026 leaders’ meeting.
- Presidents Trump and Xi agreed to dial back recent trade measures, with reports citing tariff relief, renewed U.S. soybean purchases and a pause on rare‑earth curbs, and Trump departed before the summit’s close.
- Xi met President Lee Jae Myung in Gyeongju with denuclearization on the agenda, as North Korea dismissed such efforts as a “pipedream” and Lee stressed the roles of both the U.S. and China in peninsula stability.