Trudeau in Peru for APEC meeting as leaders seek to reinforce multilateralism

LIMA, PERU – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived Thursday in Peru for meetings with leaders of Asia-Pacific countries as they brace for a second Donald Trump presidency. 

Trade concerns top the agenda at the two-day leaders round at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima. Many of the APEC member countries are heavily reliant on the trade with the United States that Trump has threatened with steep tariffs.

On the first day of the summit, Trudeau has a scheduled one-on-one meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. The two leaders are expected to announce the conclusion of three years of negotiations of a Canada-Indonesia trade agreement. 

Trade between the countries is relatively small, totalling $5.1 billion in 2023. But the new Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements could further open the market of 279 million people at a time when the future of the global trading system is unclear.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Trudeau and Subianto will work to bring the deal into force as soon as possible.

At APEC, Trudeau is expected to face questions about Canada’s commitment to regional trade after Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested Canada should strike a new bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S. — without Mexico.

Ford said Canada should move away from the 2018 US-Mexico-Canada deal that replaced the NAFTA agreement because of trans-shipments through Mexico of goods that originated in China — a known irritant to the US and Trump in particular.  The USMCA is up for a review in 2026.

Trudeau is now among the longest serving of APEC’s leaders and is among the few with direct experience dealing with a Trump White House. 

After the summit in Lima, Trudeau will fly to Rio de Janeiro for the annual Group of Twenty summit.  

The meetings in Brazil will be the last G20 summit for outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden, but there are new faces around the leaders table, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Japan’s Shigeru Ishiba and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

With Biden now in the “lame duck” period of his presidency, attention will focus on Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A China is attempting to expand its clout in South America with its “Belt and Road” strategy of making large infrastructure investments in the developing world.  

On Thursday, Xi toured in a multi-billion-dollar port project not far from Lima that is backed by Chinese interests.  

As Trump threatens global tariffs on imports of foreign-made goods to the U.S. of at least 10 per cent, China sees an opportunity to boost ties to South America. 

The APEC talks are also expected to address migration in the hemisphere and concerns about Trump’s threat to begin mass deportations of illegal immigrants, many originally from Latin American countries.

In Rio, Canada is expected to join with European G20 members in calling for other countries to provide more help to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s invasion, with future support uncertain once Trump takes office.  

The G20 could also bring Trudeau face to face, again, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Canada-India relations in a deep freeze. 

The two spoke briefly on the side-lines of the Group of Seven summit in Italy in June, after Trudeau accused India of involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist in British Columbia in 2023.  Since then, Canada has expelled six Indian diplomats it believes were involved and India retaliated by throwing out six Canadian diplomats.

Trudeau is accompanied to Peru by Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and International Trade Minister Mary Ng.

Trudeau’s daughter, Ella-Grace, age 15, is also travelling with him.