Gains – and pains – as export-led Asean economies navigate China-US trade decoupling

SINGAPORE – The intensifying trade rivalry between the world’s two largest economies has reached a point where the cost of fragmentation is becoming increasingly obvious, with most Asian countries facing a loss of share in global exports to China.

The rewiring of global trade and investment flows after the

early salvos of tariffs and sanctions between China and the United States in 2017,

which were then followed by the post-Covid-19 rationalisation of supply chains, benefited some manufacturing hubs that were seen as being on the periphery of their geopolitical conflict.