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KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Reuters) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Southeast Asian counterpart on Thursday and believes it is a priority for Washington despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Washington diplomat joined the Foreign Minister of Kuala Lumpur’s Association of Southeast Asian Countries at conferences that include Australia, China, the European Union, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Russia, and more.
This visit is part of an effort we look beyond the Middle East and European conflict, which focuses on the Indo-Pacific and consumes much of the Trump administration’s attention.
“It’s our view, our strong view, the reality that stories for this century and the next century, for the next 50 years, are primarily written in this region, this part of the world,” Rubio told a gathering of ASEAN ministers.
“When I hear it… I’ll say it’s impossible to distract you if the US or the world could probably be distracted by events in other parts of the globe,” added Rubio, who doubles as a national security adviser.
But Trump’s global tariff strategy could cast a shadow on the trip after announcing steep tariffs on seven ASEAN members, including Malaysia, and seven ASEAN members in Northeast Asian allies in Japan and South Korea.
Despite this, Rubio is likely to solidify ties with tariff-worried partners and allies, and claim that the US will remain a better partner than China, as it is Washington’s main strategic rival, experts said.
“This is important and an effort to counter China’s diplomatic and economic attacks,” said Victor Cha, chairman of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Division at the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It’s a bit late because we’re seven months into the administration. Usually these happen a lot earlier. But it’s an extraordinary situation…but I think it’s never going to be slower than it’s going to be slower.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov are also taking part in the event.
Rubio was set to meet with Lavrov later on Thursday. This will be their second in-person meeting as President Trump is increasingly unhappy with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine takes over.
I’m worried about the tariffs
On Thursday, Rubio emphasized to ASEAN that the Indo-Pacific is “the focus of US foreign policy.”
In addition to tariff insecurity, many have doubted about Trump’s “American first” administration’s willingness to be fully involved with the region, both diplomatically and economically.
Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on Japan and South Korea, aiming to become ASEAN countries, with 25% in Malaysia, 32% in Indonesia, 36% in Cambodia and Thailand, and 40% in Laos and Myanmar.
He also rose by up to 20% from 17% of tariffs from allied Philippine US Defense Treaty.
Export-dependent ASEAN collectively is the fifth largest economy in the world, with some members benefiting from supply chain restructuring from China. Only dealing with Trump secured a deal with Trump to reduce collection from the first 46% to 20%.
Trump has also disrupted another important Indo-Pacific alliance in Australia. On Wednesday, he said he was “urgently seeking details” about the threat of a 200% tariff on drug imports.
The draft joint communicae seen by Reuters shows that ASEAN foreign ministers will express “concerns over rising tensions in global trade and growing uncertainty… unilateral actions particularly related to tariffs.”
The draft Monday, the news before the latest tariff rates, did not mention the US and the language it used, similar to the ASEAN leader’s statement in May.
Both said tariffs are “counter effective and risk exacerbating global economic fragmentation.”
State Department officials said Rubio is ready to discuss trade and repeat the importance of the need to readjust US trade relations.
(Reporting by Daphnepsaledakis in Kuala Lumpur and David Branstrom in Washington, edited by Martin Petty and Clarence Fernandez)
