BEIJING (AP) – People across Asia are poised for a potentially dramatic change in relations with Washington under President Donald Trump after decades with the United States as a major military and economic presence.
The clues Trump has given about his foreign policy are a break with former President Barack Obama’s “pivot to Asia,” which re-emphasized American engagement in the region.
In one of his first actions in office, Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement being negotiated by Washington and 11 Pacific Rim countries. He has talked about requiring allies Japan and South Korea to pay more for U.S. troops stationed on their soil.
Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 45 percent and upended four decades of diplomatic protocol by taking a phone call from President Tsai Ing-wen of self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.
“From this moment on, it’s going to be America first,” Trump said at his inauguration Friday. Here’s how people across the Asia-Pacific region think his presidency could affect their lives: