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Is Asean prepared for Trump’s disruptive diplomacy?

Attention will be trained on the US president as the bloc addresses his administration’s tariffs and asserts Asean’s strategic importance

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    • While the Asean leaders are a disparate group, they will have one overriding message – to persuade Trump of the strategic importance of the region and to seek more favourable tariff deals with Washington.
    • While the Asean leaders are a disparate group, they will have one overriding message – to persuade Trump of the strategic importance of the region and to seek more favourable tariff deals with Washington. PHOTO: REUTERS

    Andrew Hammond

    Published Thu, Oct 23, 2025 · 07:00 AM

    A VERITABLE gathering of world leaders is travelling this week to the Asean and East Asia summit in Malaysia. However, the limelight will be on one person: US President Donald Trump, who attends the big Asean event for the first time since 2017.

    At the Philippines-hosted 2017 event, Trump ultimately decided to skip the East Asia Summit, another leader-led Asia-Pacific regional forum. This, along with his non-attendance at Asean summits in the following years of his first presidency fuelled perceptions of US disinterest in the region and provided what his critics contend was a key window of opportunity for China, the bloc’s largest trading partner, to deepen its engagement there.

    Fast forward to today, and the upcoming big 2025 Asean and East Asia summits from Oct 26 to 28, respectively, are part of several stops for Trump. After Malaysia, he will travel to Japan for talks and to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. The Apec’s 21 economies represent nearly two-thirds of global gross domestic product and half of world trade.

    Asean SummitDonald TrumpNarendra ModiLi QiangLuiz Inacio Lula da SilvaTrade

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