US President Donald Trump arrived in Vietnam today where he is expected to flesh out his "America First" vision for the future of world commerce, fresh from a visit to fellow superpower China which is pitching itself as the new architect of global free trade.
Trump, who tweeted his arrival shortly after stepping off Air Force One at Danang airport, is likely to press his protectionist doctrine when he addresses CEOs ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum at the Vietnamese resort.
In a day mixing big hitters of politics and business, Trump will share the venue with world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin, Japan's Shinzo Abe and China's Xi Jinping.
Xi touches down in Danang later today and will also deliver a speech, likely to double down on his commitment, delivered at the recent Communist Party Congress, that China is ready and able to step into the role of global free trade leader vacated by America.
China today said it will further open the country's financial markets to foreign firms, a key demand from the US and other global investors who have long complained about the strict limits on access to the giant economy.
Trump arrives fresh from trips to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing, where he sought to build a consensus against North Korea's nuclear ambitions and repeated his disquiet with "unfair" trade conditions that he says are siphoning off American jobs.
In China he was gushing in his praise of Xi, calling his host "a very special man" in a trip rich with photo opportunities but lacking concrete outcomes on tackling key issues such as North Korea.
As the US retreats behind "economic nationalism", China will take a stride forward, said Ian Bremmer of the political consultancy Eurasia.
The White House ruled out any meeting between Trump and Putin, a potential box office event with Russia accused of interfering in the US election last year that brought the billionaire one-time reality TV star to power.
Trump election campaign aides are under intense legal scrutiny in the US over possible ties to the Kremlin, but Russia denies any chicanery linked to his astonishing political ascent.
The rise of Trump as leader of the world's biggest economy, risks unpicking decades of US-led economic diplomacy that webbed global economies together with free trade and low tariff pacts.
He has pledged to wring a better deal from countries the US has large trade deficits with -- including China -- and bring jobs back to the hollowed out industrial heartland that voted for him.
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