Describing the meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping as the "largest shock" in the world trade system, President Marcos said the meeting of two of the world's powerful leaders would "color and influence" the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

Before concluding his departure speech for his APEC attendance in South Korea, Marcos briefly talked about the meeting between the US and China leaders, underscoring that whatever arrangements the two presidents make will impact the meetings during the APEC summit.

"It is impossible to talk of this APEC meeting without referencing as we are here today, right now, at this moment, the meeting between President Trump and President Xi that they are presently holding. And the results of those meetings will color and influence everything that we will be doing in the APEC meeting," Marcos said before flying to South Korea on Thursday, Oct. 30.

"[T]he world is watching because this is the source of the largest shock that has entered into the world trade system. And we have to see what the agreements will be coming out of these meetings between President Xi and President Trump," he added.

"Those will certainly color everything that we will be talking about in this APEC because the agreements or the arrangements that are made between two of the largest economies of the world will certainly affect every single citizen of the world," the President further said.

The Trump-Xi meeting, according to Marcos, sets this year's APEC meeting different from the others that he has attended as it will potentially create a ripple effect to the entire global economy.

"And so that makes this APEC meeting a much different meeting from all the others that we have attended because on the sidelines are the decisions being made on how trade is going to be conducted, certainly at least between the two largest economies in the world, but with the ripple effect for entire global economy," Marcos said.

So, the President said, he would be keeping a close eye on the results of the meeting.

"And so that we are looking out for, that is what we need to understand and that is why the world is watching and waiting, as we are," Marcos said.

Under the overarching theme 'Building Sustainable Tomorrow: Connect, Innovate, Prosper,' this year’s AELM brings together leaders and delegates from 21 Member Economies to set the stage for a year of policy deliberations and cooperation on trade, digital transformation and sustainability.