Chile has withdrawn as host of the APEC trade summit in November and the COP25 climate summit in December after several weeks of violent unrest.
The APEC summit was scheduled to bring together 20 world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, over November 16-17.
The COP25 program was due to run between December 2 and 13.
"This has been a very difficult decision, a decision that causes us a lot of pain, because we fully understand the importance of APEC and COP-25 for Chile and for the world," President Sebastian Pinera announced on Wednesday in a brief statement.
Riots, arson and protests over inequality this month have left at least 18 dead, 7000 arrested and Chilean businesses hit with losses of around $US1.4 billion. The capital city's metro public transport suffered nearly $US400 million in damages.
With Pinera's popularity at an all-time low, Chileans are calling for new protests and the United Nations is sending a team to investigate allegations of human rights abuses.
The cancellation of the trade summit caught the Trump administration by surprise, a White House official told Reuters.
The official said Washington learned about the decision from news reports and is seeking more information.
Reuters
