The current crop of world leaders may be forgiven for feeling they are being tested for the events they cannot control over the last year or so.
The Paris terrorist attacks before last November's G20 meeting in Turkey, the Brexit referendum in June, an intractable civil war in Syria - history's hand has placed itself on the shoulders of presidents and prime ministers at many a gathering.
But when Malcolm Turnbull and around 20 other world leaders meet at APEC in Lima, Peru this weekend, they will be wracked by events in America, which no amount of experience in statecraft will equip them to comprehend.
According to the ABC report, Donald Trump's rise as the President-elect of the United States has profound consequences for most leaders, although none have fixed their profound consequence so far.
"In the spring in Lima, the weather tends to be very cloudy and there will be a very dark cloud hanging over this summit - which is Donald Trump's election," APEC-watcher Aaron L Connelly from the Lowy Institute predicts.
Those who are paid to make sense of global strategy for governments have very few points of reference to help their leaders, and it is clear that many are relying on insights no more sophisticated than the rest of us - internet and television viewings of Mr. Trump's campaign speeches.
The US President-elect has made it clear that he is hostile to the kind of free trade deals that tend to be the focus of the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, taking place this year in Peru's capital.
He's also singled out group members China and Mexico in a populist campaign standing up for displaced American workers.
APEC's 21 member-nations comprise more than a third of the world's population and half of global trade. It was established three decades ago to accelerate economic growth by removing trade barriers and helping integrate global supply chains.
The group's annual summits also deal with current international challenges such as security following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, or in Paris last year or the global economic crisis of 2008. This year, the big issue is Trump.
While Trump has threatened a trade war with China, vowing higher tariffs and declaring it a currency manipulator, the Asian giant has emerged as an unlikely champion of border-less buying and selling.
The leaders gathering in Peru will be presented with a joint U.S.-China study ordered up in 2014 about the feasibility of a vast free trade area including all APEC members.
