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LIMA, Peru (AP) — The Latest on President Barack Obama's final official foreign trip (all times local):
11:30 p.m.
Reporters covering President Barack Obama's visit to Peru have had an unexpected change of plans. They were separated from the rest of his motorcade after he attended a dinner for world leaders attending an Asia-Pacific summit.
Three vans carrying a TV crew, still photographers and wire service and other reporters were became separated Saturday as Obama departed the gala dinner at Parque de la Reserva.
The vans managed to catch up to the motorcade as Obama arrived at his hotel.
Confusion apparently set in at the dinner venue as multiple motorcades were trying to leave at the
same time.
Obama is in Peru to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum. It's the third and final stop on his last overseas trip as president. Obama has a full schedule of meetings plus a news conference on Sunday before he heads back to Washington.
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5:30 p.m.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) says he hopes there is a smooth transition to the next U.S. president and that he hopes the relationship between the United States and China will continue to grow.
Xi is meeting with President Barack Obama during an Asia-Pacific economic summit. The two leaders spoke to reporters briefly before their meeting.
Xi says the two are meeting at a "hinge moment" in the U.S.-China relationship. He says he hopes the two nations will focus on cooperation and managing their differences.
Obama says the two nations have played a pivotal role in addressing climate change. He also says the two leaders are united in their opposition to North Korea's provocations, and they will intensify efforts to de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
Obama says he also expects a candid conversation on areas where the two leaders differ.
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4:45 p.m.
President Barack Obama is praising Peru for its success in dramatically reducing poverty in recent years. So says the White House in a statement.
The White House says Obama acknowledged the progress in a meeting with President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peru.
Peru is the host of an Asia-Pacific summit that Obama is attending.
The White House says Obama and Kuczynski also affirmed commitments made by the two nations under a 2009 trade pact. In particular, they discussed steps Peru is taking to combat illegal logging.
Peru is home to the second largest chunk of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil and a major focus of the fight against illegal logging. Under the terms of the U.S.-Peru free trade agreement, regulators have more tools to bring accountability to a timber industry whose exports are overwhelmingly illegal.
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4:20 p.m.
The White House says President Barack Obama is urging world leaders to continue their work to advance a 12-nation trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Obama has failed in his efforts to get Congress to approve the agreement before he leaves office. President-elect Donald Trump made opposition to the pact a centerpiece of his campaign.
As part of his final foreign trip, the president met with leaders of the 11 other nations participating in the TPP effort. The White House says Obama urged his counterparts to ensure that trade agreements work to reduce inequality.
Obama is holding out hope that Trump will warm to trade deals once he's in office. Obama says TPP will level the playing field for American workers and advance America's interests in an economically dynamic and growing region.
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3 p.m.
President Barack Obama is citing Chile, Peru and Columbia as examples of nations that are growing faster and doing better economically because of a new level of freedom and openness.
Obama is speaking to about 1,000 young adults at a town hall-style gathering in Peru during the final foreign trip of his presidency. Obama was asked by one man from Venezuela about how to create a world that doesn't have to choose between peace and democracy.
Obama says the evidence of recent decades suggests that countries that silence their critics go backward economically because they hide mistakes rather than solve them. He says countries with repressive governments "rot from within."
Meanwhile, he says, freedom allows people to start businesses and organizations designed to improve society.
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2:50 p.m.
President Barack Obama is trying to ease concerns in Latin America that his successor will stomp on trade deals.
As he's done at many turns in his final trip abroad as president, Obama is asking foreigners to give Donald Trump a chance and not to assume he will upend U.S. policy.
He told people at a town hall-style meeting in Peru on Saturday that there are likely to be new tensions over trade, given Trump's stance against the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other deals liberalizing commerce across borders.
But he predicts that once Trump looks closely at trade in office, he'll see the benefits more than he does now.
Obama says there could well be some modifications to trade deals. But he says he does not anticipate major change on U.S. policy on Latin America.
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1 p.m.
President Barack Obama is emphasizing opportunities to create jobs as he meets with leaders of countries involved in a sweeping trade deal that is now in jeopardy.
Obama is meeting in Peru with leaders from 11 countries that joined the U.S. to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The agreement appears unlikely to be ratified due to opposition by President-elect Donald Trump.
Obama says the meeting is a good chance to talk about expanding prosperity. He didn't elaborate or discuss prospects for ratifying the deal as reporters were allowed in briefly for part of the meeting.
Obama supports trade deals as a way to boost U.S. exports and create American jobs. But Trump criticized the Pacific agreement during the presidential campaign, saying such agreements hurt American workers. Democratic rival Hilary Clinton said she was against it, too.
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11:30 a.m.
The White House is demanding an immediate halt to Syrian strikes on eastern Aleppo after the opposition's Aleppo Health Directorate said the bombings have put all hospitals there out of service.
White House national security adviser Susan Rice says the U.S. is tracking those reports about health conditions. She says the U.S. condemns "horrific attacks" against hospitals and aid workers "in the strongest possible terms. Rice says there's "no excuse" for the attacks.
The White House is putting the onus on Russia to lower the violence and help humanitarian aid get to besieged Syrians. The White House says President Barack Obama joins other leaders in Europe and those gathering for an Asia economic summit in Peru over the weekend in demanding a halt to bombings.
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11:15 a.m.
President Barack Obama is meeting with Peru's president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
The two leaders are sitting down on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic summit in Lima. They exchanged pleasantries but made no substantive remarks as reporters were allowed in briefly to witness the start of their meeting.
Their meeting comes as leaders in Latin America are anxious about the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. He's vowed to take a hard line on immigration and his early selections for top advisers and Cabinet officials have reflected that expected approach.
Obama plans to take questions from young leaders later Saturday in Lima.
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11 a.m.
President Barack Obama will close a three-nation, post-U.S. election tour the same way he opened it. He wants to reassure world leaders that U.S. democracy isn't broken and everything will be fine when Donald Trump succeeds him next year.
Obama is in Lima, Peru, at an annual Asia-Pacific summit.
Global concerns about Trump's pending ascension to the world's most powerful office after a surprise win will be a key topic of discussion. The Trump issue overshadowed the president's interactions with world leaders earlier this week in Athens, Greece, and Berlin.
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