In the 1980s, King served as deputy high commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Guyana, and in the 1990s was a lead representative of behalf of the Caricom Regional Negotiating Machinery for market access in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations. King, an authority on the textiles and apparel industry, served as Caribbean co-ordinator on the Central American and Caribbean Textile and Apparel Council, but also lent his negotiating skills to a host of other areas, including agriculture, tourism and manufacturing.

Government service aside, King devoted much of his life to supporting and promoting the arts in Jamaica, and was a known patron of the local art scene. "He had an insatiable appetite for all things Jamaican, "Peter was a connoisseur of the arts, someone who deeply appreciated the need for this country to protect and develop its arts. He was a human being that reached into every aspect of the life and culture of this country... as we say 'him heavy'. This was a Jamaican we cannot reproduce." King is survived by his wife Jean Marguerite Lopez and son Julian. He was 64.