Why Asean must stay nimble to survive US-China trade squeeze

Asean faces challenges to its relevance due to the increasingly transactional nature of the United States under the Trump administration. At the South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia 2026 in Jakarta, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, chairman of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, highlighted Asean's united response to US tariffs in May as a test of the bloc's centrality. Asean economic ministers agreed to oppose the unilateral decision, support multilateralism, and engage with the US. Despite geopolitical turbulence, the US remained Asean's top investor last year, followed by China, according to Bernardino Moningka Vega of the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

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