Asean+3, not the US, is now the world’s largest market

THE tariffs imposed by the US last year have reignited a familiar narrative: Asia’s export-dependent economies face an existential threat when US consumers pull back.

The story goes that Asean+3 – China, Japan, South Korea and Asean – remains fundamentally a factory floor for Western consumption, vulnerable to any disruption in demand from advanced economies.

This narrative is outdated. The structure of the global economy has shifted in ways that conventional analysis has been slow to recognise. Asean+3 is no longer merely the world’s factory. It has become the world’s largest market.