Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, have seen a leveling of the playing field with US tariffs on their exports. The US tariffs, which were announced by President Donald Trump, have shaken Southeast Asia, a region heavily reliant on exports and manufacturing, and in many areas boosted by supply chain shifts from China. Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia joined Indonesia and the Philippines with a 19% US tariff, a month after Washington imposed a 20% levy on Vietnam. Southeast Asia, with economies collectively worth more than $3.8 trillion, had raced to offer concessions and secure deals with the United States, the top export market for much of the region. The extent of progress on bilateral trade deals with the United States is not immediately clear, with Washington reaching broad “framework agreements” with Indonesia and Vietnam. In Thailand and Malaysia, business groups cheered the tariff rate, which could signal a maintenance of the status quo between rival markets, among them beneficiaries of “China plus one” trade.
Trump’s tariffs have provided relief in Southeast Asia by leveling the playing field. Huong 738
