Shipping containers are seen at a port in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, earlier this year. Photo: AFP

US tariffs will cost Asean billions in lost trade, UN says. Is China the answer?

Southeast Asia is set to be the region hardest hit by American tariffs, according to a new UN report, with observers saying the fallout could push Asean deeper into China’s orbit as the US raises the price of entry to its vast consumer market. The report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) forecasts a…

Southeast Asia is set to be the region hardest hit by American tariffs, according to a new UN report, with observers saying the fallout could push Asean deeper into China’s orbit as the US raises the price of entry to its vast consumer market.
The report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) forecasts a 6.4 per cent slump in exports to the United States from the wider Asia-Pacific, driven by price increases from tariffs.

But for Southeast Asia – a linchpin in global supply chains and a major supplier of American-bound electronics, garments and footwear – the expected drop is a punishing 9.7 per cent.

“Southeast Asia will definitely be hard hit by Trump’s tariffs as much of the region’s growth is tied to exports, especially in sectors like electronics, semiconductors, garments and footwear,” Joanne Lin, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Asean Studies Centre, told This Week in Asia.

Shipping containers are seen at a port in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, earlier this year. Photo: AFP
Shipping containers are seen at a port in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, earlier this year. Photo: AFP
Some countries are more exposed than others, however. Vietnam and Cambodia look the most likely to face headwinds “if US demand for their exports deviates from existing trends”, according to Ahmed Albayrak, a research associate at the Lowy Institute think tank’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre.

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