Asia needs a game plan for a world upended by Trump

Developments in recent weeks could send various countries into a tailspin. But they could also forge new alliances.

- Lin Suling

We are in a world at war with itself.

Trade, once the lifeblood of economies, and a key restraint against nations taking up arms against one another, has been weaponized by the United States, arguably the architect-turned-wrecker of the old order.

With US President Donald Trump doubling levies on Chinese goods and China responding with curbs of their own this week, the effects of this self-harm will be felt everywhere across the world.

"Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again." Mr Trump said in a landmark speech to the US Congress on March 4.

"There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much."

And in those two hours as he spoke, he asserted that the US has been "ripped off for decades" by "nearly every country on earth", making clear his intention to right these wrongs.

Worryingly, Mr Trump is reshaping geoeconomics into a zero-sum arena, where there are no friends and potentially little room for compromise, after 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico went into effect that same day.

That portends badly for a framework of reciprocal tariffs on trading partners, yet to be unveiled.

These developments augur poorly for Asia, a key beneficiary of globalization, and the decades-long expansion of global supply chains, and a region where foreign direct investments are critical for growth and economic prosperity.

The start of a witch hunt for a suspected diversion of advanced chips to China may simply be a symptom, a small bit in an extensive rivalry for power, where both sides are racing to gain a technological edge over the other.

Physical chokepoints that could make the US economically vulnerable are also fair game now.

This could include sea lanes involving Asia.