Beyond tariffs, Trump’s pragmatic playbook champions US solutions for ASEAN needs

WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE – ASEAN should expect to see a new, hard-nosed side of the United States in the near term as the Trump administration deepens its implementation of a pragmatic “America First” brand of foreign policy.

Along with the recent appointment of a new US ambassador to ASEAN, US officials will push the reliability of US equipment and technology in efforts to rebalance trade in favour of the world’s largest economy – a strategy that also includes imposing tariffs on its trading partners.

“Our goal is to advance US solutions,” said Thomas Hardy, acting director and chief operating officer of the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) during a July 9 discussion at the Washington Foreign Press Centre, where he outlined the shift.

“In the past, it’s been purely economic, jobs and exports and development,” Hardy said about his agency, which has supported hundreds of infrastructure project activities across ASEAN since it was founded in 1992.

“What you’re seeing in the investments we’re making in emerging markets around the world is that there’s a lot more strategic national security interest, whether that be port infrastructure, critical minerals or ways to change supply chain routes to ensure greater connectivity for US industry on critical minerals,” he added.

While a push for American enterprise has always been its mission, the USTDA is now realigning priorities around US national security interests, underscoring contemporary geo-economic realities in which trade and security are no longer separate as the US-China rivalry intensifies amid China’s growing global might.

Several initiatives within the regional grouping point to this transition.

One is small modular reactors, which offer ASEAN’s growing economies a path to reliable, low-carbon energy and can be deployed more quickly than traditional nuclear power plants.

USTDA is presenting them as a trusted alternative to Chinese and Russian reactors. Hardy was unusually explicit about that goal, saying the agency is focused on “very America First” support for US nuclear solutions in Asia.

“It will be no surprise to anyone that that means we are working to push out China and Russian technologies in favour of the US solutions,” he said.

Pacific island nation Palau is a case in point. In 2021, its national carrier began removing Chinese Huawei equipment over national security and trust issues, with help from a US grant. By early 2026, the network was being rebuilt with 4G/5G technology from the US and allies.

The same drive is now being extended to undersea cables, telecommunications networks and digital infrastructure across South-east Asia.

In Vietnam, USTDA is supporting a security operations centre and a private data facility in Ho Chi Minh City. In the Philippines, it is backing the Luzon Economic Corridor, including design work for the Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas Railway and supporting the development of a new international airport for the Metro Manila area. In Thailand, the agency is helping a Thai e-commerce company test American artificial intelligence tools for its online platform.

Hardy framed the approach as a choice.

“This is not a ‘buy American or else’,” he said. “But what we are providing is an introduction and a road map for helping our partners invest in trusted solutions.

“We are not shy to make the point that we are there supporting Cisco or supporting Microsoft as a way to push out Huawei, ZTE and others that provide untrusted solutions that pose potential national security risks.”

US v China

This aligns with the brand of pragmatism that new US Ambassador to ASEAN Kevin Kim says would characterise his approach.

“In terms of the value proposition that the United States provides, it’s about providing what the region is looking for,” Kim told The Straits Times in an interview on June 25 in Singapore, where he was on an introductory visit from his Jakarta base.

“The key is not just to focus everything through or view everything through the prism of US-China competition, but also to look at how we can strengthen the US relationship with ASEAN as an institution, as well as with ASEAN member states,” he said.

“We want ASEAN member states and the region to have strategic weight of its own, to have capacity and capabilities.”

US Ambassador to ASEAN Kevin Kim said his approach is to strengthen the US relationship with the region and provide what the region is looking for. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

Kim also pointed to plans to deepen US collaboration with ASEAN on regional standards, which will form the basis for cooperation, including in digital trade, future technologies and other emerging fields.

When ratified by member states at this November’s ASEAN leaders’ summit, the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement will become the world’s first comprehensive, regionwide agreement dedicated to digital economy governance.

Still, South-east Asian states are finding it increasingly difficult to balance their economic reliance on China with their security dependence on the US, given the Trump administration’s tariff regime and increasing protectionism.

On July 23, the Trump administration unleashed a fresh round of tariffs on 60 trading partners under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, alleging that these nations failed to impose and/or effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour.

ASEAN member states Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have been hit with a 12.5 per cent levy, and Indonesia with 10 per cent.

These levies replace an initial set of tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down in February 2026 and the temporary tariffs that the Trump administration imposed after that decision. Further tariffs could be imposed due to concerns about excess capacity.

The US has denied that President Donald Trump’s revival of a “Group of Two” framework with China, which acknowledges Beijing as an equal as Washington pursues better ties with China, will impact everyone else.

“We have to have a relationship with China. We want it to be as positive as it possibly can be, but that won’t come at the expense of our allies and our partners in the region, or our presence here either,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in the Philippines on July 23 as he attended several regional meetings.

The US is ASEAN’s second-largest trading partner, trailing only China, the grouping’s largest trading partner since 2009. Conversely, ASEAN has been China’s largest trading partner since 2019.

The US remains the largest single source of foreign direct investment for ASEAN, accounting for just under 19 per cent of the grouping’s total FDI in 2024.

The view from South-east Asia

Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan meets US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Pasay, Metro Manila, on July 23. PHOTO: AFP

Some analysts warn that these economic advantages may soon unravel for the US.

“The Trump administration’s aggressive tariff policy, elimination of most assistance, and its unpredictability have reduced confidence in the region in the US as a partner,” said retired US diplomat Scot Marciel, who became the first US envoy to ASEAN in 2008.

Many countries are working to reduce their dependence on the US, while bolstering ties with other nations they see as more reliable such as Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and China, he added.

“They also recognise the low priority the administration places on the relationship with ASEAN itself, which adds to their doubts about the US commitment to the region,” said Marciel.

The Trump administration’s preference for bilateral trade negotiations with the various South-east Asian states is another sore point. Critics argue it demonstrates a disdain not just for ASEAN but also for multilateralism more broadly.

This is perhaps why Kim’s arrival is seen as a welcome development for some, since it ends an 18-month vacancy that reinforced questions about the priority Washington attaches to ASEAN, said Lynn Kuok, Lee Kuan Yew Chair in South-east Asia Studies at the Brookings Institution.

But the ambassador has his work cut out for him.

The US-Israeli war against Iran has imposed immediate costs on South-east Asia by increasing energy and fertiliser costs and heightening risks for the roughly three million South-east Asians who live or work in the Middle East – deepening shocks in a region already grappling with US tariffs.

Kuok argues Kim should focus on two priorities: limiting the damage from US trade measures and mitigating the immediate energy crisis, while instituting a longer-term energy security mechanism.

The ambassador does not determine policy, she noted, but he can help ensure that the severe regional consequences of recent US actions – and their costs to US interests – are clearly communicated to Washington.

Although the region will continue to engage the US strategically and economically, Washington might nonetheless struggle to garner support for future US initiatives and requests for cooperation, she said.

Malaysia reportedly, under domestic pressure, stopped permitting US Navy port calls in March 2026 in response to the war in Iran, demonstrating how opposition to Washington’s policies can constrain strategic cooperation.

“A loss for the US is not automatically a gain for China, but Beijing is best positioned to benefit if US actions continue to impose high economic costs on South-east Asia and countries in the region are unable to sufficiently diversify their economic relationships,” Kuok said.

“US interests in a free and open Indo-Pacific are best secured when South-east Asian states have not only the maritime security tools to deter and respond to unlawful and coercive actions in the South China Sea, but also the economic leeway to do so.”

The view from DC

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) in a bilateral meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Pasay, Metro Manila, on July 22. PHOTO: REUTERS

ASEAN, though, is sometimes viewed with misgiving in Washington, despite frequent formal US endorsements of ASEAN’s centrality in regional affairs.

Lingering issues in Myanmar and the South China Sea have exposed the limits of ASEAN’s consensus-based decision-making. The re-emergence of Cambodia-Thailand tensions has also hurt the South-east Asian grouping’s standing and credibility.

Still, ASEAN excels in convening rival powers in relatively neutral environments, which is proving invaluable at a time of seismic changes in the world order. The South-east Asian regional grouping counts China, the European Union, India, Russia and the US among its numerous dialogue partners.

“It’s not really in any driver’s seat, but I think it’s been remarkably successful as a mechanism for building order in a highly fragmented part of the world,” said Charles Morrison, a senior fellow and former president of the East-West Center.

At the latest round of meetings convened by ASEAN, Rubio met several of his counterparts on the side, including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“In this part of the world, showing up is more than half of the battle (won),” Kim said.

“It’s making sure that American presence can be felt diplomatically for ASEAN, and ASEAN member states to know that we the United States are here to listen to the concerns, to identify areas of cooperation and to explore possible options.”