White House officials were caught by surprise with Chile’s announcement it is cancelling two summits, including one President Donald Trump was to attend next month where he was to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders, VOA news reports.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced Wednesday that due to continuing anti-government protests in Santiago, his country will no longer host the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in mid-November as well as the COP25 climate summit in early December.
“We’re just hearing about it,” said one White House official when asked about the cancellation.
Some officials in the West Wing acknowledged they heard about the cancellation from the Twitter timelines of reporters and news organizations, an indication that no word of the summit’s cancellation had been distributed internally among senior White House officials before Pinera’s announcement in Santiago on Wednesday morning.
“I don’t know,” replied White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley when reporters asked him if Pinera notified Trump before the public announcement. Asked whether another country might host the leaders, he replied: “We’re trying to get to the bottom of it.”
Trump has repeatedly said he expected to use the APEC summit as a venue to sign “phase one” of a bilateral trade agreement with the Chinese president.
Protests in Chile began October 18 over a 4% increase in subway fares in Santiago have spread across the nation, inflamed by the frustration of ordinary Chileans who feel they have been left out of the prosperity of Latin America’s wealthiest country.
Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces on Monday – the same day President Pinera replaced eight cabinet members in an attempt to tame the country’s political crisis.
While most of the protests have been peaceful, some have turned violent, leaving at least 20 people dead.
The protesters are seeking improved economic equality in the country, as well as reforms in the pension and medical systems.
Pinera, a center-right billionaire, last week offered a host of proposals to try to calm the protesters, including a raise in the minimum wage and pensions as well as lower prices for medicines and public transportation.