Overview
- Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a temporary de-escalation of recent trade measures, offering short-term relief while leaving implementation details to be worked out.
- APEC leaders issued the Gyeongju Declaration emphasizing trade and investment cooperation but avoided direct mentions of the WTO and explicit multilateral language.
- Leaders adopted new cooperation tracks on artificial intelligence and demographic change, with South Korea calling the AI Initiative the first endorsed by both the U.S. and China at leaders level.
- Trump departed soon after the truce meeting, and Xi took center stage by casting China as a defender of open trade and confirming Shenzhen as the APEC 2026 host.
- South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked Xi to help revive talks with North Korea, shortly after Pyongyang rejected denuclearisation efforts as a “pipedream.”