Chile cancels international conference where Trump hoped to sign trade deal with China

President Sebastián Piñera announced the cancellation amid his administration's struggle to suppress growing demonstrations in the capital, Santiago, over issues of inequality in South America's wealthiest nation. 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 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 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. 

"A president must always put his compatriots above all else," Piñera said, according to news reports. "Our main concern is re-establishing public order, our citizens' safety and social peace along with pushing through a social agenda to respond to the main demands of our citizens."

Trump said Oct. 11 that U.S. and Chinese negotiators had "agreed in principle" on a "substantial phase one" pact, the first step toward the comprehensive arrangement that the U.S. president has promised amid an extended trade war with Beijing. 

As part of the agreement, Trump agreed not to proceed with plans this month to raise tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports to 30 percent from 25 percent in return for China promising to buy billions of dollars in additional products from U.S. farmers.

Negotiators have been meeting since then to produce a written agreement, which Trump hoped to sign in Chile. But there is no real deadline for those talks, and with the Santiago summit off the calendar, it is not clear when the phase-one deal will be finalized.

Trump had not planned to attend the environmental summit in Chile, though a U.S. delegation was expected. 

The White House also announced Wednesday that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross would lead the U.S. delegation to the East Asia Summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering in Bangkok next week. Trump has not attended those events since 2017.

Leaders from around the world had planned to gather in Chile for the COP to continue a push to ramp up efforts to sharply cut carbon emissions in coming years and to meet the goals of the landmark Paris climate accord, which was signed in 2015. 

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg had planned to speak at the conference, once again chiding world leaders to act with more urgency. Trump is also expected to give official notice soon that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris accord next year, and delegates to the summit would have been forced to wrestle with that reality. 

Now, questions remain about how many nations will be prepared to meaningfully increase their pledges to take more aggressive climate action ahead of 2020 - the date when the Paris agreement said countries must make a new round of promises. 

The United Nations, which oversees the annual gathering, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.