BUSAN, South Korea — President Marcos said the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump has brought a “welcome pause” in global economic tensions, describing the reported truce between the world’s two largest economies as “good for everyone.”

“I’d love to know, but we haven’t gotten very much information out of either side,” Marcos told reporters here on Saturday, Nov. 1, when asked about the Xi-Trump talks.

The President said he had been “keeping a close eye” on the high-level meeting, which coincided with the regional summit.

“Lahat nga nung nakikichismis ako sa lahat ng mga leaders, may alam ka ba? Anong nabalitaan mo? (I kept asking other leaders if they knew anything — I was curious too),” he jested.

According to Marcos, the best information he received suggested that Beijing and Washington had agreed to deescalate their trade war for at least a year.

“They have declared peace for at least a year. So the trade war will be less intense — at least for a year, or that’s the agreement,” he said.

Marcos said the global economy would benefit from the temporary easing of trade tensions.

“Medyo nakahinga ang buong mundo nang kaunti (The whole world can breathe a little easier),” he said.

“Even if it’s not complete, at least the two largest economies in the world — China and the US — have reached some kind of understanding. In the end, it was good that they met and came to some conclusions,” he added.

The President said the Philippines is closely monitoring how this agreement could affect its own trade and investment prospects.

“We’re still waiting for more — to see how it impacts the Philippines, our trade deals with the US and China,” he said.

He noted that any improvement in US-China relations would likely influence the entire Asia-Pacific region.

The President also confirmed that the Philippines did not seek bilateral meetings with either Xi or Trump during the summit, saying there was no need to do so.

“Neither side asked for a meeting. We are in very close communication with the White House,” he said.

He explained that the APEC Summit was an economic forum, not the venue for political or territorial discussions.

“With President Xi, neither side asked for a meeting because — anong pag-uusapan namin (what would we discuss)? This is neither the time nor the place to talk about the West Philippine Sea,” Marcos said.

Nevertheless, Marcos managed a brief encounter with the Chinese leader at the end of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

“I made sure to find him kasi patapos na yung speech niya (I made sure to find him before his speech ended),” he said, adding that it would be embarrassing if he were the only leader to not congratulate Xi on assuming the APEC chairmanship for the following year.

He said he expressed readiness to “do good work together,” adding that the exchange, he said, was “very quick” and “just common courtesy.”