Chile cancels international conference where Trump hoped to sign trade deal with China
Chile has canceled a pair of major global summits on the economy and environment in the coming weeks amid unrest in Santiago, scrambling President Trump’s hopes of signing a first-step trade deal with China at one of the events.
President Sebastián Piñera announced the cancellation as his administration struggles to suppress growing demonstrations in the capital over issues of inequality in one of South America’s wealthiest nations. As many as 1 million protesters took part in a peaceful march over the weekend, while smaller protests have turned violent, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency in several major cities.
Trump was scheduled to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Santiago from Nov. 15 to 17. White House officials said he was planning to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping in a bid to lock in details of a “phase one” trade pact that could ease tensions between the economic powers and lay the groundwork for a bigger trade deal next year.
Chilean officials also pulled out of playing host to the Conference of the Parties, or COP, a major climate change summit, at which more than 100 international delegations were expected.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/chile-cancels-international-conference-where-trump-hoped-to-sign-trade-deal-with-china/2019/10/30/ab65effc-fb20-11e9-8190-6be4deb56e01_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
