[China Daily] Forum urges integration, realignment for ASEAN
Southeast Asian countries need to deepen their integration and economic cooperation to sustain regional development amid uncertainties and challenges arising from steep tariffs imposed by the United States, a regional forum heard on Wednesday. While tariff negotiations with the US may have resulted in deals that are disadvantageous to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the regional bloc can use existing free trade agreements to promote a "rules-based global economic order", according to experts who participated in the webinar organized by the Manila-based Philippine Association for Chinese Studies. "The inconsistency and unpredictability of US foreign policy (are pushing) Asian and other regional states to hedge and realign," said Kei Koga, an associate professor from the School of Social Sciences at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. Noting how US trade policies change when a new president is elected, he said that Asian countrie...