Asean walks trade war tightrope

WITH its pauses and U-turns, Donald Trump’s tariff agenda continues to defy firm forecasts. Still, it remains worthwhile to explore how the US president’s trade wars have impacted South-east Asian economies and could continue to do so going forward.

South-east Asian economies are strategically important to both China and the United States as trading partners, geographical interests and military bases, particularly for the US. Yet, for the past decade, the region has repeatedly found itself caught in the middle as these two global powers compete for economic supremacy.

With a population of over 690 million – or around 8 per cent of the world’s population – Asean accounts for over 3.5 per cent of global gross domestic product and 7.4 per cent of global exports, demonstrating the bloc’s increasing importance to the world’s economic activity. Asean is China’s largest trading partner, while ranking as the US’ fourth-largest trading partner, after Mexico, Canada and China.