Joe Biden to bid farewell at APEC and G20 under Donald Trump's shadow

Donald Trump and Joe Biden

President Joe Biden heads to South America on Thursday for a curtain call with global leaders after over 50 years in U.S. politics, but the man he tried and failed to keep from returning to power is likely to be the focus of many meetings: incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.

Biden will hold private meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the heads of Japan, South Korea and Brazil during the summits of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, in Peru and the Group of 20 leading economies, or G20, in Brazil. The meetings over six days are not expected to yield any major new agreements, senior Biden administration officials said, even as they are likely to touch on trade, security and global alliances.

"The APEC and G20 will be about one thing ... and that is Donald Trump – and what to expect from the next Trump administration on trade, alliances, and other issues," said Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, in the Nov. 5 presidential election after promising Americans he would impose steep tariffs on all imports, with higher ones aimed at Chinese goods, and signaled much softer support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. Harris' loss came after Biden was forced to step aside in the race because of concerns that at 81 he was too old for another term.

Trump's Republican party also won control of both houses of the U.S. Congress, giving him additional power to push through measures on trade and other issues.

Biden came into office in 2020 seeking to rebuild alliances strained during Trump's first term and tried to show that the U.S. remained engaged beyond its borders. He strengthened and expanded NATO and worked to counter China in the Indo-Pacific by building up multilateral alliances in Asia.

Trump has a fundamentally different world view than Biden, preferring bilateral meetings where he can practice transactional diplomacy over multilateral partnerships like NATO.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that Biden will use the trip to say that America cherishes and invests in its alliances and thank those who have helped deal with an array of global problems.

"It's a message of principle. It's a message of practicality, and it's been one of the causes of President Biden's life," he said.