(Photo grabbed from Reuters video)
LIMA, Peru (Reuters) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Lima Thursday (November 17) for the 2016 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) at a time when the role of the United States on issues as far-ranging as trade and climate change remains unclear in the wake of Donald Trump’s electoral victory.
Upon arriving in Lima, Kerry and delegations from the United States met with his peers from J
apan, Fumio Kishida, and Philippines, Perfecto Yasay Jr., for bilateral meetings.
Kerry arrives in South America fresh off a trip to Morocco where he found himself having to address the uncertainty created by the election of Donald Trump, and what his presidency might mean for the U.S. commitment to the 2015 Paris agreement to cut global greenhouse gas emissions.
Kerry has urged countries to treat the earth’s changing climate as an urgent threat, citing melting glaciers, stronger storms, and record-breaking droughts.
Trump has called climate change a hoax, and said he would rip up the Paris deal, halt any U.S. taxpayer funds for U.N. global warming programs, and revive the U.S. coal sector.
The road ahead for trade among APEC nations also remains unclear.
Kerry, along with U.S. President Barack Obama, have framed the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which excludes China and Russia, as a way for Washington to set trade rules for the fast-growing Pacific-rim region before Beijing does, part of his “pivot to Asia.”
But during his election campaign, Trump took a protectionist stance on trade issues
and labelled the TPP championed by President Obama a “disaster”. There is now little chance of it coming up for vote in Washington before Trump’s inauguration in January.
