My Take | The United States, not China, turns out to be the real bogeyman
The significance of Trump’s tariffs is that they have destroyed the credibility of America on which its global alliances have long depended
If America wanted to convince Southeast Asia to side together against China, Donald Trump’s “universal” tariffs have just shot the nation in one foot.
If the idea was to militarise the South Pacific – by pressuring those tiny island states to go along – with help from Australia under the Aukus military alliance – America has blown off its other foot.
I can imagine Xi Jinping quoting Napoleon, who famously told his generals to hold their horses during a major campaign. “Gentlemen,” he said, “let us wait a little; when your enemy is executing a false movement, never interrupt him.”
The Trump administration uses a very crude formula to calculate different tariff rates to be imposed on countries with a trade imbalance against the US. As a result, many of the worst-hit economies are from the Asia-Pacific, as they are export-driven.
Vietnam has been hit with a 46 per cent tariff rate, Cambodia 49 per cent, Laos 48 per cent, Malaysia 24 per cent, Thailand 36 per cent, Indonesia 32 per cent, and the Philippines 17 per cent.
Trump must have thought he was being nice to the Philippines, as it is the only Asean country to openly side with Washington against Beijing. It’s true that Laos, Cambodia and lately Malaysia under Anwar Ibrahim have tilted towards China, but it’s virtually a collective policy for Asean states to play a neutral role and hedge between Beijing and Washington. Not any more.
To add insult to injury, China’s 34 per cent isn’t even the highest. No wonder Hanoi, which the US has been wooing for years, is irate.