Kiwi business leaders have welcomed a successful superpower sit-down in South Korea, with hopes that warm words between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping could spark more agreement between Asia-Pacific leaders on tough economic issues.
Trump and Xi met for the first time since the US President’s return to the White House, sitting down for just under two hours of talks on Thursday in the South Korean city of Busan.
In brief opening remarks, Xi said he had “stated in public many times that China and the United States should be partners and friends”, while Trump said the pair were “going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time”.
While a formal trade deal remains a work in progress, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that China had agreed to resume purchases of American soybeans, in addition to suspending a ban on the export of rare earths for one year and taking measures to stop the flow of fentanyl. In return, he would drop US tariffs on China from 57 percent to 47 percent.
Trump said he would visit China in April next year, with Xi reciprocating with a trip to the US – “whether it’s in Florida, Palm Beach or Washington DC” – some time later.
Speaking to media in Gyeongju after the meeting, Luxon said it was positive to see the leaders of the world’s two largest economies “actually continuing to talk and to ease tensions”.
“President Xi, in his opening remarks [said] it’s inevitable the number one and number two economies in the world will have tensions with each other, and I think that is a reality, and I think being straight up about that reality is okay, and it’s perfectly reasonable to have that position…
“The more that those leaders are talking together, the more that they are planning on moving this thing forward, and the more that they can de-escalate those tensions, that is of benefit to all of us.”
International trade consultant Stephanie Honey, who serves as a policy adviser to the New Zealand members of the Apec Business Advisory Council, told Newsroom a constructive working relationship between the US and China was critical for global prosperity and sustainability.
“It’s just the perfect demonstration of why Apec exists: there’s the old chestnut that the acronym stands for ‘a perfect excuse for a conversation’, and I think this is the exact living proof of that, because it provides a platform for President Trump and President Xi to come together and actually work through some of these really difficult issues.”
As a result, the business council was increasingly optimistic about what would come out of the Apec leaders’ talks on Friday and Saturday even in Trump’s absence, with “a good vibe” about the need for collaboration to resolve the economic issues facing the region.
Anna Curzon, a board director and one of New Zealand’s representatives on the business council, seized on Trump’s comments to the Apec CEO Summit that “the best deals [for nations] are deals that work for everybody”, saying it had been warmly received by business leaders in the crowd as a positive step forward.
The pair both attended last year’s Apec summit in Peru, which took place after Trump’s election win but before he had formally returned to office, and Honey said the economic uncertainty of a year ago was yet to dissipate.
“For businesses, what they need is a predictable operating environment, and some clarity about how to do business: it gives them confidence to invest and plan and all the rest of it, and I think it’s fair to say that this year has just been marked by a lot of disruption.”
While it was positive to see some tariff deals being done between the US and other countries, Apec leaders needed to shore up the trade architecture and reaffirm the importance of open markets at a time when there was still uncertainty about the path ahead.
“Protectionism doesn’t serve anybody’s interests: we need to take a pause on all these disruptive trade actions, but also work together to revitalise the trading system and trade rules.”
