Trump Blasts Globalization At APEC Meeting; Cedes Ground To China Leadership

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Danang, Vietnam, US President Donald Trump pitched his "America First" trade policy to Asian political and business leaders, just hours after praising China and its leaders. In his speech, he promised to pursue "mutually beneficial commerce" through bilateral trade agreements, decrying plurilateral and multilateral trade agreements and said the US won’t enter into multilateral trade agreements that “tie our hands.”

He fired shots at China in particular, arguing he will fight the "audacious theft" of intellectual property from American companies, and blaming countries who refused to follow the US in lowering trade barriers, while accusing the World Trade Organization of treating his country unfairly.

This strikingly hostile message was delivered to the 11 remaining countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, currently negotiating to seal a deal that does not include the US, but allows for its incorporation further down the line.

Careful not to criticize China's President Xi Jinping personally, he effectively ceded further ground for China to assert its leadership in the global sphere. Xi's speech was starkingly opposed to Trump's message, as he championed globalization, the Paris climate accord, and argued his country would continue leading a free trade area in Asia-Pacific.

The contradictions at the heart of China's model could still prove to be its undoing, as the New York Times' Antony J. Blinken has argued, but Xi Jinping's leadership might continue to prove successful as other Western leaders fail to present an alternative.