Chinese President Xi Jinping today, on the final day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru, called on the region’s economies to “unite and cooperate” in the face of growing “protectionism.”

In his speech, according to Chinese state television CCTV, at a closed-door meeting of APEC leaders, Xi referred to “challenges such as geopolitics, unilateralism and rising protectionism”.

“We need to come together and work together,” he told the 21 APEC member countries shortly before the summit closed and hours before a planned one-on-one meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Xi, in a speech broadcast yesterday by the Xinhua news agency, had already warned “against the rise of unilateralism and protectionism,” warning that the world “has entered a new period of upheaval and transformation.”

These statements, like the meeting with Joe Biden, come in a context of uncertainties, highlighted by several participants at the APEC summit, in view of the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency.

The Republican president-elect, who, under his previous term (2017-2021), was embroiled in a direct trade confrontation with China, threatened, during the election campaign, with 60% tariffs on Chinese goods. He has also surrounded himself with advisers whose presence suggests an aggressive presidency against China.

Xi in his speech yesterday said any attempt to reduce global economic interdependence would be a “backfire”. He pledged to pursue economic liberalization policies that would “open (China’s) door even further to the world.”