Chile has canceled a pair of major global summits on the economy and environment in the coming weeks amid unrest in Santiago, scrambling President Trump’s hopes of signing a first-step trade deal with China at one of the events.

President Sebastián Piñera announced the cancellation amid his administration’s struggle to suppress growing demonstrations in the capital, Santiago, over issues of inequality in South America’s wealthiest nation. As many as 1 million protesters took part in a peaceful march over the weekend, while smaller protests have turned violent, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency in several major cities.

Trump was scheduled to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Santiago from Nov. 15 to 17. White House officials said he was planning to meet with China’s Xi Jinping in a bid to lock in details of a “phase one” trade pact that could ease tensions between the economic powers and lay the groundwork for a bigger deal next year.

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Chilean officials also pulled out of playing host to the Conference of Parties, a major climate change summit, at which more than 100 international delegations were expected.

“A president must always put his compatriots above all else,” Piñera said, according to news reports. “Our main concern is reestablishing public order, our citizens’ safety and social peace along with pushing through a social agenda to respond to the main demands of our citizens.”

Trump said Oct. 11 that U.S. and Chinese negotiators had “agreed in principle” on a “substantial phase one” pact, the first step toward the comprehensive arrangement that the U.S. president has promised amid an extended trade war with Beijing.

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As part of the agreement, Trump agreed not to proceed with plans this month to raise tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports to 30 percent from 25 percent in return for China promising to buy billions of dollars in additional products from U.S. farmers.

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Negotiators have been meeting since then to produce a written agreement, which Trump hoped to sign in Chile. But there is no real deadline for those talks, and with the Santiago summit off the calendar, it is not clear when the phase-one deal will be finalized.

Trump had not planned to attend the environmental summit in Chile, though a U.S. delegation was expected.

The White House also announced Wednesday that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross would lead the U.S. delegation to the East Asia Summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering in Bangkok next week. Trump has never attended those events.

David Lynch and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.

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