ASEAN, China, Japan, and South Korea to Strengthen Ties to Fight Protectionism, Enhance Multilateralism

While the Trump administration has pushed to apply protectionist measures in global trade to the detriment of other countries, some regional blocs are vowing to fight back.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), together with China, Japan, and South Korea, have come out in criticism of the escalation of protectionism in a joint statement. The group called for enhanced regional unity to handle the uncertainty stemming from the implementation of these policies.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a bloc integrated by Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, joined by China, Japan, and South Korea, has stated its intent to continue fighting protectionism by deepening its ties.

The group, known as ASEAN Plus Three, made these remarks as part of the final statement in its Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in Milan, Italy. In the document, while ASEAN recognizes that its joint economies will grow at around 4% gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025, it also highlights that the region is subject to “heightened externalities.”

One of these externalities is the uncertain trade market forecast. ASEAN Plus Three stated: “Escalating trade protectionism weighs on global trade, leading to economic fragmentation, affecting trade, investment, and capital flows across the region.”

In this sense, the group vowed to maintain regional unity and cooperation in the face of protectionism, stressing that promoting intra-regional trade will be key to weathering these difficulties.

ASEAN also committed to following already established trading rules, fighting protectionism, and fostering a “rules-based, non-discriminatory, free, fair, open, inclusive, equitable, and transparent multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core.”

The group’s posture, which is also joined by U.S. allies, underscores how the tariff menace has rattled the international order, uniting countries as different as China and Japan into a similar front.

Since 2023, ASEAN has taken steps to reduce its reliance on the U.S. dollar, given the dangers that unilateral sanctions might pose to its economies.