Chinese President Xi Jinping has come to South America with a multi-billion-dollar charm offensive aimed at winning favour with nations as Donald Trump threatens to isolate the United States from the global community.

After touching down in Peru for the two-day APEC summit, Mr Xi opened a Chinese-controlled Pacific megaport north of the capital Lima.

Mr Xi, like outgoing US president Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, are spending a week in Latin America for meetings with Pacific-rim nations in Peru and the world's largest economies in Brazil.

Trump's threat to ignite global trade wars has China seeking to capitalise, particularly in nations that might have previously looked north to the United States for economic support.

The prospect of economic warfare between Australia's largest trading partner, China, and its closest defence ally, the US, has Mr Albanese calling for calm.

Addressing a private session of APEC leaders on Friday, local time, he said now was not the time to pull back from the global community.

"We are all affected, we are all involved. And so we must all work together to meet this present adversity in a way that builds for our future prosperity."

Even without Trump attending the South American summits, his looming return to the White House is continuing to dominate discussions among leaders.

Mr Albanese met with Indonesia's new president, Prabowo Subianto, on Thursday, with the two leaders discussing their joint desire for greater trade and military cooperation.

Before reporters were ushered out of the room, Mr Prabowo warned of the need to work together to get China to "de-escalate" and lower the temperature in the Pacific.

The prime minister's address to APEC leaders will mark the start of two days of meetings, which will focus on trade and the global effort to tackle inflation. Leaders will also discuss the energy crisis that has been exacerbated thanks to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Albanese will condemn Russia and the support it's receiving from North Korea. He will also repeat his calls for a de-escalation of violence in the Middle East.

He will argue that all combined reaffirmed the need for global leaders to work closer, not further apart.

"Co-operation is fundamental to meeting the challenges confronting us," he said.

"It is every bit as important to seizing the opportunities ahead of us."

Mr Albanese and US President Joe Biden had a quick chat as leaders gathered for their first meeting, at one point sharing a laugh.

Mr Xi was not in attendance, with his seat left empty as Peru's president addressed the leaders.

Reuters reported Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, in an address to CEOs at the APEC summit, read a speech by Mr Xi, in which he said globalisation was facing "counter currents", despite not naming a particular leader or country.

"The world has entered a new period of turmoil and change, unilateralism and protectionism are spreading, the fragmentation of the world economy has intensified," Mr Xi said.

"Hindering economic cooperation under various pretexts, insisting on isolating the interdependent world, is reversing the course of history," he added.

Since arriving in Peru, Mr Albanese has repeatedly said he supported "free and fair" trade and the need to maintain climate targets, both for the environment and domestic jobs.

"There are hundreds of millions of people who stand to benefit from the work we can do to modernise and strengthen trade rules," he will tell APEC's leaders.

The prime minister addressed business leaders at a lavish function that overlooked the South Pacific in Lima on Thursday night.

He pitched Australia as a safe and reliable partner, a country ready to benefit from the billions that could flow to other countries if Trump follows through on his threat to junk US clean energy subsidies and funding.

Mr Albanese talked up Australia as being rich in the resources needed to supply the world with clean energy and battery technology.

China's president will meet with outgoing US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the APEC meeting on Saturday. Mr Albanese appears optimistic about securing a meeting with Mr Xi on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro in the coming days.

The prime minister's comments in South America have offered an insight into how he is likely to deal with Trump when he is back in the White House.

He has been at pains not to appear disparaging of the man he once said was scaring the "shit out of me".

Mr Albanese has talked of the need to wait and see what Trump does in office and has repeated his willingness to work with the US president.

But he has not shied away from any of his trade or climate policies that are at odds with Trump's rhetoric.

Having never met Trump, the Coalition has urged him to visit the incoming president in Florida while in the Americas. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr Albanese all but ruled that out, insisting he would be back in parliament the day after the G20 conference ended.