Best deal with US tariff policy is no deal

Given that global economic uncertainty loomed large over the just-concluded 46th ASEAN Summit, the most strategic response to US President Donald Trump's tariff-driven foreign policy is disengagement, not negotiation or appeasement. Ignoring Trump is not passivity; it is strategic defiance. By refusing to be drawn into asymmetrical negotiations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations can better safeguard its interests and let the US economy foot the bill for the protectionism it has unleashed on the world.

Trump's accusation that China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India and ASEAN member states are "job thieves" is a distortion of economic reality. From 2021 to 2024, US unemployment averaged just 3.8 percent — among the lowest in the developed world — exposing the falsehood that Asian economies are stealing US jobs. In fact, the US economy grew to a record $29.3 trillion last year, retaining its position as the world's largest economy.

Structurally, 81 percent of the US' GDP stems from services, a sector that employs 79 percent of the US workforce (91 percent if the self-employed are included). Manufacturing, though politically resonant, accounts for only a small percentage of the US workforce. By imposing tariffs, particularly on imports from Asian countries, under the guise of "saving jobs", Trump is distorting reality and harming the very global networks that power US economic growth.