After the fireworks and formalities ended, it was time for the delegates at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to begin their work.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is preparing today, Thursday, to hold bilateral meetings with a group of leaders from Pacific Rim countries between the high-level plenary sessions of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

U.S. President Joe Biden raised a list of challenges during the opening reception on Wednesday, including addressing the rewards and potential risks of artificial intelligence.

The leaders will also discuss how to enhance and streamline modern supply chains, while finding practical solutions to the climate crisis.

International Trade Minister Mary Ng said Canada will focus particularly on creating conditions for economic growth across the Pacific region, emphasizing that businesses in Canada and beyond are looking for a level of certainty that allows them to invest confidently in expanding their international trade.

Ng said on Wednesday, as the summit was underway seriously, "They are here looking to grow their businesses and expand in the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions."

She pointed out that companies demand the existence of rules they know and can rely on to create a predictable business environment where they can operate, and this is what they expect their governments to do."

Ng confirmed that Canada will welcome the opportunity to join the U.S.-led trade initiative known as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), but work to expand trade in the region is already well underway.

Perhaps that is so, as trade agreements are not politically popular in the United States at the moment, and Congress is wary of the crucial elections looming next year.

It seems the White House has temporarily paused the framework, which countries like Japan had hoped would finally allow the U.S. to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Ng noted that Canada is already an enthusiastic partner in that deal, a salvaged version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership abandoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017.

She said, "We have trade relationships, and we trade with many of these economies, including the United States," "so we welcome the opportunity to join (IPEF) when the time is right. But honestly, we are already doing the work."

Leaders in San Francisco will also be able to focus more clearly on their goals now that one of the main distractions at the summit is out of the way: Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two leaders met for more than four hours on Wednesday, agreeing to begin thawing relations that have been frozen for most of the past 12 months.

Routine communications will resume after a breakdown that began with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in 2022 but showed serious consequences earlier this year when a Chinese spy balloon drifted over North American airspace.

Xi told Biden, "Planet Earth is big enough for success for both countries."

For his part, U.S. President Biden expressed the importance of clear understanding between them, leader to leader, without any misconceptions or misunderstandings. "We must ensure that competition does not turn into conflict."

Meanwhile, Trudeau spent Wednesday focusing on old friendships and new paths to affordability.

The warmth was obvious when he met with California Governor Gavin Newsom, a kindred liberal spirit who has made his efforts to combat climate change a prominent and valuable ally.

Trudeau said to his old friend, as he displayed the embroidered image of the Golden Gate Bridge adorning his ankles: "I think you gave me these socks last time."

Newsom, who looked genuinely surprised, said, "You’re still wearing those socks." "Have you ever been caught wearing black socks?"

Later, Trudeau visited an expansive product distribution center where he met teachers, government officials, and leaders in technology and agricultural foods to discuss ways to address the affordability crisis.

He surveyed the American and local product display, including Canadian and British Columbia mushrooms, potatoes, before sitting down to talk about how to keep a healthy lifestyle within reach for Canadians and their families.

Trudeau said, "People are currently facing challenges on a whole range of different levels," citing inflation, rising interest rates, housing shortages, the specters of climate change, and looming global conflict.

He said, "There are many reasons why people feel anxious – and when people feel anxious, they tend to really pessimistic and withdraw from engaging in our democracy and in the positive future we are trying to build."

"Families who cannot feed their children, who cannot put food on the table, lead to instability and insecurity in every other part of our lives."