D onald Trump’s comeback is now certain, after he decisively won re-election to the White House, but there is growing uncertainty over how his second-term administration will deal with the Asia-Pacific—a region of increasing strategic relevance and home to a number of international economic and security concerns for the U.S.

We choose both.” Asia has so far gained from the America-China trade war. “China plus one” strategies, in which firms add supply-chain nodes outside China, are common. The result has been a boom in foreign direct investment ( FDI ).

During his campaign, President-elect Trump pledged to decrease military involvement overseas and upend what he described as unfair trade practices.

Shortly after his inauguration in 2017, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal involving many Asian states, signaling his dislike of multilateralism. As President, Trump did not regularly show up at regional summits.

Southeast Asian leaders are adept at dealing with President-elect Trump’s transactional style of diplomacy, but an escalating U.S.-China conflict would severely harm the region.