During his time in office, President Joe Biden boasted that ‘America is back.’
On Saturday, America was relegated to the back row.
Biden’s ‘super lame duck’ status was on full display when he was positioned in the back and off to the side in the APEC leaders’ family photo in Lima.
Chinese President Xi Jinping – who Biden will sit down with later Saturday – appeared front-and-center alongside the host country’s leader, President Dina Boluarte of Peru.
Leaders wore matching brown scarves for the photo – as it’s an APEC tradition to sport the host’s native dress.
The 81-year-old also left all the leaders waiting for at least five minutes before walking to his predetermined place.
His family photo position is dictated by alphabetical order – though Trump got a front row spot in the center, next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his one and only APEC appearance in Vietnam in 2017.
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama stood in a similar position as Biden during their tenures, a National Security Council spokesperson pointed out. ‘This year a few are out of order due to protocol errors,’ the spokesperson also said.
Trump famously pushed aside the Montenegrin prime minister as he was lining up for a similar ‘family photo’ taken at the NATO summit in Brussels in 2017.
Biden has been overshadowed at the annual conference both by Xi – who was given an official state visit with Peru – and former President Donald Trump – though he refuses to acknowledge it.
At the end of both his meetings Friday, the president ignored shouted questions about what he’s been telling allies about what a Trump administration will mean for U.S. foreign relations.
On Saturday, he continued to ignore the press about it being his last time at APEC as U.S. president.
American officials have denied that Trump has come up at all.
‘No, as a matter of fact the president-elect’s name did not come up,’ said a senior administration official briefing reporters on Biden’s meeting Friday with the leaders of Japan and South Korea.
That official explained that most of the meeting between the U.S., Japan and South Korea was dedicated to the worrying alliance between Russia and North Korea.
During Trump’s four years in office he appeared to be breaking through to North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, boasting about ‘love letters’ sent between the two after they met face-to-face in Singapore in June of 2018.
However their bromance never helped forge a true nuclear deal – and the relationship with North Korea has frayed even further once Biden came into power.
The official also said that Trump didn’t even come up in the context of the incoming president’s relationship with Kim.
‘None whatsoever,’ the official told DailyMail.com.
The White House sang a similar tune when asked about Biden’s meeting with Boluarte – where he was joined with a number of members of his senior staff.
‘No it really focused on the current U.S. bilateral relationship,’ the official said.
‘President Biden did underscore the importance of respect for democracy and – and strengthening democratic institutions, as he does in all of his meetings with democratic counterparts around the world,’ the source continued. ‘But it was, it was a meeting that was very much focused on the, frankly, the accomplishments that the Biden administration has had with Peru over the past four years.’
But outside the American bubble, world leaders are talking about how they’re preparing for Trump 2.0.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he spoke to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto about his recent chat with the president-elect.
‘He had a phone conversation with President Trump, as I did last week, so we discussed that and what it might mean for the world,’ Albanese told reporters. ‘Obviously, that’s part of the backdrop of APEC and the G20 is what the impact of a change in US Administration will have.’
During his meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Biden said ‘we’ve now reached a moment of significant political change.’
But quickly jumped to congratulating Ishiba for his own election – making it unclear if he was also referring to what’s happening back home in the United States.