SOUTH KOREA  — China’s Xi Jinping took center stage at an annual gathering of Pacific Rim leaders in South Korea on Friday, meeting Canadian and Japanese counterparts after securing a fragile trade truce with U.S. President Donald Trump.

That agreement, struck just before Mr. Trump left South Korea, skipping the main two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, cooled spiraling tensions between the world’s two largest economies that have jolted global commerce.

With Mr. Trump playing host for the White House’s annual Halloween party back in Washington, Mr. Xi sought to cast China as the predictable champion of free and open trade at the forum, a role the US has dominated for decades.

“Changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world,” Mr. Xi told leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) bloc on Friday in the historic town of Gyeongju.

“The rougher the seas, the more we must pull together,” Mr. Xi added in a speech calling for protection of the multilateral trading system and deeper economic cooperation.

However, many Asian nations are wary of China’s rhetoric, given its muscular defense posture in the region, dominance in manufacturing and its own willingness to use export controls and other tools in trade disputes.

Deputizing for Mr. Trump, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the gathered leaders – many of whom have been hammered by Mr. Trump’s barrage of tariffs – that Washington was “rebalancing its trade relationships to build a stronger foundation for global growth”.

The IMF initially cut the global growth outlook after Mr. Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcement in April, but has edged it back up as shocks and financial conditions have proved more benign than expected.

XI MEETS JAPAN’S NEW HAWKISH LEADER
Among the most hotly-anticipated bilateral meetings, the Chinese leader held talks with Japan’s newly elected leader Sanae Takaichi. In brief remarks at the start of their meeting, both leaders said they would seek to advance ties.

While relations between the historic rivals have been on a sounder footing in recent years, Ms. Takaichi’s surprise elevation to become Japan’s first female leader may strain ties due to her nationalistic views and hawkish security policies.

One of her first acts since taking office last week, was to accelerate a military build-up aimed at deterring the territorial ambitions of an increasingly assertive China in East Asia. Japan also hosts the biggest concentration of US military abroad.

The detention of Japanese nationals in China and Beijing’s import restrictions on Japanese beef, seafood and agricultural products were also likely to be among sensitive issues on the agenda.

CANADA SEEKS TO RESTART CHINA ENGAGEMENT
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also held talks with Mr. Xi, aiming to restart broad engagement with China after years of poor relations.

Embroiled in a bitter trade dispute with the United States, Canada’s biggest trading partner, Carney told a gathering of executives running parallel to the main summit on Friday that Ottawa aimed to double its non-US exports over the next decade.

China is Canada’s second-biggest trading partner.

Under the leadership of Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau, Canadians were detained and executed by the Chinese government and Canada’s security authorities concluded that China interfered in at least two federal elections. Mr. Xi also publicly scolded Mr. Trudeau, alleging he leaked their discussions to the press.

China announced preliminary anti-dumping duties on Canadian canola imports in August, a year after Canada said it would levy a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. Senior officials from both sides met to discuss those issues earlier this month but gave no indication of any looming breakthrough.

Mr. Xi also met Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, while South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will tackle Korean denuclearization with the Chinese leader at a summit on Saturday.

As he held his summits, Mr. Xi’s commerce minister delivered a speech on his behalf to the gathering of executives, in which he said China was the “ideal” destination for global business and investment.

In other business, Taiwan said it was making progress on a tariff deal with the United States, and South Korea said final details of its deal with Washington were almost ready after a breakthrough agreed on Wednesday.

SOUTH KOREA HOPEFUL OF JOINT DECLARATION
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Thursday that he was hopeful APEC leaders would issue a joint declaration when the summit concludes on Saturday.

Two APEC member-nation diplomats privately expressed skepticism that any statement would be particularly substantive given fractures in global politics.

APEC, which stretches from Russia to Chile and accounts for 50% of global trade, failed to adopt a joint declaration in 2018 and 2019, during Trump’s first presidency.

There was also some business deals on the sidelines with US chipmaker Nvidia agreeing on a $3 billion AI joint venture with South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Group.

Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang has had a whirlwind week, with Nvidia becoming the first company to surpass a $5 trillion valuation, but the issue of the US chipmaker’s sale of advanced AI chips in China was seemingly left out of Thursday’s Xi-Trump summit.—Reuters

PORT-AU-PRINCE/KINGSTON/HAVANA — Hurricane Melissa picked up speed as it churned across open ocean in the direction of Bermuda on Thursday, after wreaking destruction across much of the northern Caribbean, where local authorities have reported a total of nearly 30 deaths.

At 5 p.m. (2100 GMT), Melissa was a Category 1 storm 526 kilometers (km) south-west of the North Atlantic British island territory, where hurricane conditions were expected by nightfall even as Melissa’s eye skirts north-west.

Melissa was packing maximum sustained winds of 169 kilometers per hour.

Residents remained calm as the storm was expected to give the island a relatively wide berth. Authorities said they would close its causeway Thursday night and shut schools and ferries on Friday “out of an abundance of caution.”

In the Bahamas, which Melissa cut through overnight, authorities lifted storm warnings but did not give the “all clear”. An official said authorities expected to decide by Saturday whether it was safe for the hundreds of people who evacuated off affected islands to return to their homes.

Melissa did not directly hit Haiti, but caused at least 25 deaths there, authorities said, mostly in the southern town of Petit-Goave when a river burst its banks after days of torrential rain.

A river also caved in and carried off part of a national highway, local newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported. The road, which had been weakened by last year’s Hurricane Beryl, connected to the nearby city of Jacmel.

Melissa was the first major hurricane since 1988 to directly hit Jamaica, where authorities reported at least four deaths in the southwestern region where the hurricane struck land as a powerful Category 5 storm. Windspeeds were well above the minimum level for the strongest hurricane classification.

US forecaster AccuWeather said Melissa was the third most-intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean, as well as its slowest-moving, compounding damages for affected areas.

Scientists say hurricanes are intensifying faster with greater frequency as a result of warming ocean waters caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Many Caribbean leaders have called on wealthy, heavy-polluting nations to provide reparations in the form of aid or debt relief.

Satellite imagery showed swaths of trees and homes devastated in the hardest-hit areas of Jamaica, sparse remaining greenery defoliated and most structures destroyed.

“I know many Jamaicans are concerned about their loved ones,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a video message from a helicopter as he headed to hard-hit Westmoreland parish.

Jamaica’s military called on reserve personnel to report for duty ahead of deployments for relief and rescue operations.

Over 70% of electrical customers in Jamaica remained without power as of Thursday morning, said Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, with power lines felled across the island’s roadways.

Many schools remained without power or water, officials in the capital Kingston said.

WADING BAREFOOT THROUGH MUD
The front page of Thursday’s Jamaica Observer newspaper read: “DEVASTATION.”

More than 130 roads remained blocked by trees, debris and electric lines, authorities said, forcing the military to clear roadways on foot into isolated areas, with ambulances following close behind.

One road in the hard-hit coastal town of Black River was swamped with more than four feet of sand stretching over a mile, officials said.

In a neighborhood of the island’s Montego Bay, 77-year-old Alfred Hines waded barefoot through thick mud and debris as he described his narrow escape from the rising floodwaters.

“At one stage, I see the water at my waist and (after) about 10 minutes time, I see it around my neck here and I make my escape,” he told Reuters on Wednesday.

“I just want to forget it and things come back to normal.”

Densely populated Kingston was spared the worst damage. Its main airport was set to reopen on Thursday, as was the capital’s port. Relief flights and aid had begun to flow into Jamaica’s airports, authorities said.

In western parts of the island, people crowded by supermarkets and gas stations to fill up on supplies.

“Montego Bay hasn’t got any petrol. Most of the petrol stations are down,” British tourist Chevelle Fitzgerald told Reuters, adding it took her at least six hours to cross the 174 km to Jamaica’s capital.

“The highway was closed. You had some blockage on the road and trees falling down,” she said.

US search and rescue teams were headed for Jamaica on Thursday to assist in recovery efforts, Jamaican authorities said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US. was prepared to offer “immediate humanitarian aid” to the people of Cuba, a long-time US foe.

Authorities in Cuba – which Melissa struck in the night as a Category 3 storm – said they were “awaiting clarification on how and in what way they are willing to assist.”

At least 241 Cuban communities remained isolated and without communications on Wednesday following the storm’s passage across Santiago province, according to preliminary media reports, affecting as many as 140,000 residents.

Residents of Santiago, Cuba’s second-largest city, began returning to repair their homes.

Authorities had evacuated 735,000 people to shelters outside the hurricane’s cone and relocated tourists in northern cays to inland hotels. Cuba reported substantial infrastructure and crop damage but no loss of life as of midday Thursday.— Reuters

ISTANBUL — Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed on Thursday to extend a ceasefire during talks in Istanbul after the worst border clashes between the neighbors in years, according to Turkey which mediated the talks along with Qatar.

The ceasefire began on October 19.

The two countries faced their most serious military confrontations since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul, with deadly clashes this month triggering Pakistani airstrikes, Afghan retaliatory fire and the closure of key crossings used for trade and transit.

“All parties have agreed to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that will ensure maintenance of peace and impose penalties on the violating party,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said of the October 25–30 talks.

It added that a follow-up meeting would be held in Istanbul on November 6 to decide how the mechanism will be implemented, and that Turkey and Qatar “stand ready to continue cooperation with both sides for lasting peace and stability.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a separate statement shortly before midnight in Istanbul confirming the conclusion of the talks and saying both sides had agreed to continue discussions in future meetings.

He said Afghanistan sought good relations with Pakistan “based on mutual respect and non-interference.”

Pakistan did not immediately comment.

BORDER CLASHES SPARKED AIRSTRIKES
The clashes erupted after Pakistan launched airstrikes inside Afghanistan against Pakistani Taliban militants it says are based there and responsible for attacks on its forces. Kabul condemned the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty and denies sheltering the group.

The border, which runs more than 2,600 kilometers, has long been a source of friction with frequent skirmishes and mutual accusations over militant sanctuaries.— Reuters

Washington’s decision to delay a rule on export restrictions for Chinese companies, announced by China after Thursday’s summit meeting with US President Donald Trump, could end up making the measure ineffective, former US officials said.

The one-year suspension of the so-called affiliates rule, which had sought to prevent sanctioned Chinese companies from using subsidiaries to bypass US controls on tech exports, would give those companies the breathing room they need to create workarounds, the officials said.

The rule, unveiled on September 29, barred Chinese firms at least 50% owned by sanctioned companies from receiving US tech exports. It drew strong opposition from Beijing.

“This pause may give Chinese entities sufficient time to reorganize corporate structures and holdings to circumvent any re-imposition of the (rule),” said Nazak Nikakhtar, who served at the Commerce Department during Mr. Trump’s first term.

“Chinese companies have, over the years, become very adept at circumventing US laws,” she added.

The rule was suspended as part of the summit between Mr. Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, in exchange for China delaying its restrictions on rare earth mineral exports, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday.

“Yes, we are going to be suspending that for a year in return for the suspension…on the rare earth licensing regime,” he told Fox Business Network.

The measure, which had long been sought by China hawks in Washington, hit 20,000 additional Chinese firms with US export restrictions, vastly expanding the universe of blacklisted China-linked parties from the previous 1,300, according to a recent report from WireScreen.

“(The delay) could significantly limit the national security benefits that proponents of the rule were hoping for,” said Saif Khan, who served as director of Technology and National Security at the White House National Security Council under former President Joe Biden.

Trade lawyer Dan Fisher-Owens cautioned, however, that US companies may still be wary of resuming shipments to Chinese firms affected by the affiliates rule.

“This heightened awareness, and the potential for re-imposition if negotiations sour, may prevent a return to business as usual with affected affiliates,” he said.— Reuters