Trump snubs APEC

A hot mike caught US President Donald Trump saying that his much-anticipated meeting on Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, meant to settle the most important trade relationship in the world, would be "three, four hours" and he would then fly back to Washington.

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It was actually much shorter, an hour and 40 minutes, but true to his word he was on a plane well before the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit began yesterday.

Trump's decision to skip APEC fits with his well-known disdain for the big, multi-nation forums that have been traditionally used to address huge global problems, and his relish of the kind of one-on-one diplomacy that can result in big deals, or at least interesting headlines.

But his blunt dismissal of this weekend's APEC diplomacy risks worsening America's reputation at a forum that represents nearly 40 percent of the world's population and more than half of global trade.

It also stands in contrast to China's approach.