ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
President Biden is in South America this weekend, attending the last big global summits of his presidency. Tomorrow he'll sit down with China's Xi Jinping. This trip comes as world leaders prepare for the return of President-elect Donald Trump. NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid joins us from Lima, Peru. Hi, Asma.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Hi there, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What is Biden's main mission on this trip given that he is on his way out of office?
KHALID: I mean, well, he is here in Peru for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, and then he'll be heading to Brazil for the G20, which is a meeting of the world's leading economies. And in both places, he is a lame duck president who is trying to reassure anxious allies. You'll probably recall that Biden came into office pledging that America was back on the international stage. He has worked during his presidency to strengthen alliances. And Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says that is the same vision he's taking here - that these partnerships are critical to U.S. national security. But we should point out that Trump does not have the same commitment to working with allies. He has campaigned on a sort of go-it-alone strategy.
SHAPIRO: How does that reality factor into what Biden is doing on the strip?
KHALID: Well, Biden and Biden's team have been trying to cement some of these relationships with the hope that they will endure beyond Biden's presidency. A clear example, I would say, of this is that Biden invested in building up a trilateral relationship between the United States, South Korea and Japan. It's part of a broader strategy to counter China's influence in the region. And this is a fairly big deal. I mean, Biden invited these leaders to Camp David for a summit last year. And this afternoon here in Lima, he met with them again.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I'm proud to have helped people in one of the parts of building this partnership. And I think it's built to last. That's my hope and expectation. I truly believe cooperation of our countries will be the foundation to peace and stability in Indo-Pacific for many years to come if we stay together.
KHALID: But Trump has traditionally preferred one-on-one relationships where, you know, he can negotiate with one partner directly. So it's not clear that this particular grouping is in fact going to continue.
SHAPIRO: As we mentioned, tomorrow Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who officially opened a mega-port in Peru this week. What is the White House saying about that meeting?
KHALID: Well, Biden has tried to invest in infrastructure projects around the world to compete with China. And, you know, you mentioned this port. I will say there has not been a big, splashy mega-project akin to that Chinese port in Peru. But the White House says it has helped leverage private investment around the world. And Biden's national security adviser told reporters that there has been some $6 billion of American investments in Peru alone. They're trying to sort of downplay, it seems, this Chinese port.
SHAPIRO: And what are the expectations for the meeting?
KHALID: Well, the White House is particularly keen to keep the relationship stable during this transition period when adversaries could potentially take advantage of a change in power. And Biden intends to emphasize the importance of keeping military-to-military lines of communication open no matter who is in charge.
I will say, Ari, that few things in Washington these days appear to be bipartisan, but China policy is one area where you have some degree, I think, of agreement. You know, you can take, for example, the tariffs that Donald Trump put on China. These were sweeping tariffs on imports of Chinese goods. Biden has largely kept those tariffs in place. One big unknown, though, heading into the next administration is whether Trump is going to make good on his campaign promise to hike tariffs again on China. I will say broadly, the Biden administration believes that this relationship with China is hugely important, and how it goes could affect the world in the coming decades.
SHAPIRO: All right.
KHALID: They often say they want to make sure it does not veer into conflict.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Asma Khalid. Thank you.
KHALID: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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