Just after wrapping up a more than four-hour meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, President Joe Biden embarked on a packed day hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, touting his own record on the economy at home and pledging his commitment to the Asia-Pacific region.

“The United States remains vital to the future of the region. And the region is more vital than ever to the United States of America,” Biden said Thursday morning during remarks to CEOs at the summit in San Francisco.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden on Thursday addressed the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, touting his own record on the economy at home and pledging his commitment to the Asia-Pacific region 
  • Biden’s remarks kicked off his second day of public engagements related to this year’s APEC summit, a multi-day conference of world leaders representing APEC’s 21 member economies
  • Biden and the U.S. play host to this year's summit in San Francisco 
  • Thursday's remarks come less than 24 hours after the president wrapped up hours of talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the first time in a year

Biden’s remarks kicked off his second day of public engagements related to this year’s APEC summit, a multi-day conference of world leaders representing APEC’s 21 member economies. The U.S. president is looking to use the meeting to strengthen ties with the critical region, noting in his speech “more than 60% of U.S. exports go to fellow APEC economies.” 

“We aren’t going anywhere. For decades, America's enduring commitment to the region has been a springboard that’s enabled growth — transformative growth — ensured the open flow of commerce, lifted millions of people out of poverty,” Biden said. 

APEC members have invested $1.7 trillion in the U.S. economy, supporting some 2.3 million American jobs. U.S. companies, in turn, have invested about $1.4 trillion in APEC economies. The White House said U.S. companies represented at this week’s summit have invested more than $50 billion in APEC economies this year. 

Spanning Thursday and Friday, Biden is also hosting the leaders of APEC for a working lunch and more formal dinner before meeting individually with Mexico’s president and officially passing the group’s chair title to the president of Peru. 

At Thursday’s lunch, Biden reiterated his belief that climate change is an existential threat to humanity, noting the impacts are felt most by the countries that contribute to the problem the least. 

“Every economy around this table faces this challenge, every one of us,” Biden said. “And as I've said before: it’s the only existential threat to humanity. We either get this right or there's not going to be a whole lot of people around to talk about it.”

He added the region was responsible for the largest share of global emissions. 

Later on Thursday, the president delivered remarks at a family photo with the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework members — a 14-member group his administration established last year to work together on supply chains, climate, anti-corruption and trade. The fresh effort came six years after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that was signed by 12 countries. 

Biden noted the group made “substantial progress” in “record time,” reaching agreements to identify supply chain bottlenecks, accelerate the clean energy transition and counter corruption. U.S. allies are still looking to hammer out comprehensive trade agreements with Washington. 

In his Thursday morning speech, Biden noted China’s Xi previously asked him why the U.S. is so engaged in the region. 

“Because we are a Pacific nation. Because of us, there has been peace and security in the region, allowing you to grow,” the president said. 

“He didn’t disagree,” Biden added, referring to Xi. 

On Thursday, the president also highlighted his own economic record domestically – noting the unemployment rate has stayed before 4% for 21 months and the gross domestic product rose 4.9% in the third quarter. 

The president repeated the phrase he frequently uses when promoting his economic agenda at home: “We’re building the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.” But this time Biden acknowledged “there is a disconnect between the numbers and how people feel about their place in the world right now,” appearing to recognize months of polling showing his low approval rating on the issue.   

Fresh off his first face-to-face sit-down with Xi in a year, Biden once again touted the pair’s “straightforward” conversation on Tuesday, emphasizing that the two world powers agreed to resume military-to-military talks — which drew applause from the CEO crowd — and pledging to responsibly manage competition between the world’s two largest economies. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.