Opinion | Donald Trump won’t get a grand stage for a US-China trade deal after Chile calls off Apec summit. So what now?
- The cancellation of the summit due to ongoing protests has deprived the US President of a setting to seal a ‘phase one’ deal with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping
- The White House had hoped to deflect attention from the impeachment inquiry and was caught off guard by the announcement
The US-China trade war drama is full of protagonists, antagonists, comedy, and tragedy, but what has generally been less of a problem has been the set pieces. That appears to have just changed.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced this week that Santiago would no longer host two upcoming major international summits, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP25.
The cancellation comes amid massive protests and riots, which have lead to more than a dozen deaths and million of dollars in damage to property.
Chile’s ability to safely and securely host world leaders for these meetings has been compromised as a result.
“This has been a very difficult decision, a decision that causes us a lot of pain, because we fully understand the importance of Apec and COP-25 for Chile and for the world,” Pinera said in a statement. He was right on the importance of both meetings.
The former of these was meant to provide the backdrop for the long-elusive interim trade deal that Washington and Beijing have been working toward.
