Trump tariffs challenge Asean's unity and economic stability
When
US President
Donald Trump 's tariff chaos eventually calms, its long-lasting consequences will significantly affect the area just south of
China and east of
India – Southeast Asia – and its organisational bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (
Asean ).
Trump's focus on protectionism is likely to replace uniform tariffs with varying import taxes for different countries. This shift could create divisive and harmful effects for
Southeast Asia and Asean, which are interchangeable but distinct, fostering competition rather than enhancing cooperation among their economies.
The time has come to think of this central
Indo-Pacific neighbourhood more as a Southeast Asian region and less as an Asean organisation of production networks and global supply chains.
To be sure, Trump's unilateral tariffs across Washington's geoeconomic chessboard pose a critical test for Asean. The Southeast Asian grouping has weathered many geopolitical and geoeconomic storms in its 58-year existence, but few are as serious as the Trump tariffs. Asean risks facing further division, reduction, and irrelevance unless it can reorganise and unite.
Over the last 13 years, Asean has already faced complicated divisions due to the
US-China rivalry , Beijing's aggressive actions in the
South China Sea , Myanmar's 2021 coup and subsequent civil war, along with
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The responses of Asean member states to these challenges have varied.
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