Asia-Pacific world leaders promoted free trade in the region at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) over the weekend.
The summit, hosted by Peru, saw representatives from 21 economies meet to discuss the region’s trade.
"In our interconnected global economy, distance is no barrier to this uncertainty and isolation is no answer,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told other leaders at the summit.
“Everyone understands that greater cooperation, greater trade, greater economic activity is good for the nation states and the economies that make up APEC,” Albanese said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping did not formally meet with other leaders at the summit, though he held talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday.
“The two leaders reviewed the bilateral relationship over the past four years and took stock of efforts to responsibly manage competitive aspects of the relationship and advance areas of cooperation,” according to a White House statement.
Xi and Biden discussed trade, countering drug trafficking, artificial intelligence safety, and geopolitical issues like North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia, the White House said.
"China is ready to work with a new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said about U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, who will take office in January.
Xi also spoke with leaders from New Zealand, Chile, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. Albanese will meet with Xi at the G20 summit in Brazil this week.