Anthony Albanese ready to talk tough on trade as he arrives in Peru for APEC summit

Anthony Albanese has declared his support for “free and fair trade”, and will use a major global summit this week to make the case for strengthening Australia’s relationship with the Asia-Pacific region as it braces for turmoil.

The Prime Minister touched down in Lima, Peru on Wednesday afternoon (local time) for the APEC summit, which is set to be overshadowed by fears of what the second Trump Administration’s proposed tariffs will mean for the global economy.

It’s likely to result in a concerted effort by the 21 economies to pre-empt a potential US-China trade war.

The G20 summit will follow in Brazil.

On the sidelines, Mr Albanese hopes to have one-on-one talks with several key partners, including Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and Chinese president Xi Jinping. Mr Xi will be trying to rally support for fair trade and protection of China’s volatile economy from Donald Trump’s trade agenda, which includes a 60 per cent tariff on Chinese goods.

Mr Xi has secured a meeting with outgoing US President Joe Biden on Saturday, set to be their final encounter before Mr Trump returns to the White House. In a pre-departure briefing, Biden administration officials were hopeful the firm, but relatively stable relationship of the last four years would continue under Mr Trump, but acknowledged they have little say.

Before departing, Mr Albanese had talked up the role Australia could play in managing the looming tumultuous period in the US-China relationship, and as he arrived in Lima reiterated his priorities ahead of the summit where Mr Trump’s return to the world stage will be the giant elephant in the room.

“Over coming days, and then at the G20, we’ll be discussing how trade is important for Australian jobs and for the Australian economy,” Mr Albanese said from the tarmac.

“This is about lifting Australia’s living standards by ensuring that we can continue to export to our region and to the world.

“There’ll be discussions about the World Trade Organisation as well and reform, making sure that free and fair trade benefits the people of our region and indeed the people of the globe.

Asked if he was hoping for a unified agreement at the summit against Mr Trump’s proposed tariffs, Mr Albanese said Australia would “always support free and fair trade”.

“We’re a trading nation. One in four of Australia’s jobs is trade-dependent. That will be a focus with the meetings over the coming days,” he said.

Mr Albanese, accompanied by his fiancee Jodie Haydon and Agriculture Minister Julie Collines, was greeted in Lima by Peruvian Development and Social Inclusion Minister Julio Javier Demartini Montes, and Australian ambassador to Peru Maree Ringland.

Mr Albanese is set to meet with President Suboianto and Peruvian President Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra on Thursday, before he is expected to give a speech to business leaders later in the day.