Trump’s Asia Tour Highlights US-China Pacific Rivalry Shaping Regional Trade and Security

President Donald Trump's 2025 Asia tour, including the 47th ASEAN Summit, Japan, and the APEC Summit in South Korea, is a strategic effort to reassert American influence in the Indo-Pacific region through transactional and interest-based diplomacy, contrasting with the Biden administration's values-driven approach. Trump emphasizes equal cooperation with ASEAN nations, focusing on investment, trade, energy, and defense, while cultivating an image as a peacemaker, notably by witnessing a Thai-Cambodian peace agreement. His meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan brought a temporary truce to the US-China trade war, though the durability of this agreement remains uncertain amid ongoing tariff conflicts and export control battles. The trade war has escalated into a broader contest for technological supremacy, especially in semiconductors and rare earth metals, with China leveraging its dominance in critical mineral supplies to gain strategic advantage. Meanwhile, Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia navigate the rivalry by engaging with both powers, as seen in Cambodia's plan to rename a highway after Trump following his role in defusing a border dispute, even as Chinese infrastructure projects continue to expand. Overall, Trump's Asia engagement reflects a transactional and strategic recalibration of US presence in the region amid complex geopolitical and economic competition with China.