Trump shows allies not shielded from ‘America First’ trade moves

HONG KONG — A long-standing security alliance is not enough to protect countries from US President Donald Trump’s first big protectionist move.

The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines hit China, but also US allies like South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines. All three have decades-old security treaties with the US, as well as stubborn trade surpluses.

The maneuvers could place new strains on relationships that have underpinned US dominance of the region since World War Two.

Thailand and the Philippines have already been seeking to improve ties with China, now Asia’s biggest economic power and a source of growing military clout.

The tariffs particularly put pressure on South Korean President Moon Jae-in, whom Mr. Trump needs to support his hard line against North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.

“It’s the geopolitical equivalent of cutting your nose off to spite your face,” said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

He said imposing punitive measures against such countries in Asia was “crazy.”

The tariffs mark Mr. Trump’s first major move in his pledge to cut the US trade deficit and tackle what he calls unfair trading practices.

His “America First” agenda saw the president withdraw the US from a large Pacific trade pact during his first week in office, while the administration is in talks to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement.

UNDERMINING CONFIDENCE
It isn’t the first time Mr. Trump’s trade tactics have cropped up at a sensitive time for South Korea. The day after the US president threatened to pull out of a bilateral free-trade agreement in September, North Korea detonated its most powerful nuclear bomb yet.

As with the ongoing negotiations over the US-South Korea trade pact, the government in Seoul is pushing back. Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said Tuesday that South Korea will file a petition with the World Trade Organization against the US for imposing anti-dumping duties on Korean washing machine and solar panel makers. It may discuss steps with other targeted countries, he said.

The US made the announcement before Mr. Trump heads to Davos this week to address the world’s business and financial elite.

Last year the forum heard Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge to preserve the international system of trade rules and advocate for globalization.

Mr. Trump has long criticized some Asian nations for running trade surpluses with the United States. He told executives at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam in November the US would only consider negotiating a bilateral deal with a partner who would “abide by the principle of fair and reciprocal trade.”

“Mr. Trump is true to his words,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

“It is classical old-style protectionism, and it’s going to be a reminder for Thailand and other countries that Mr. Trump means business.”

Mr. Thitinan said it was unlikely the tariff move would prompt an immediate shift by Thailand toward China.

But it will “continue a trend that we have seen in recent past that, once alienated from the US or the West, Thailand tends to edge closer to China’s embrace.”

Any reaction could be tempered by goodwill Mr. Trump has earned with Asian leaders who were censured for their human rights record by predecessor Barack Obama.

Mr. Trump has received the leaders of Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia at the White House.

When he met Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte in Manila in November last year, the subject of human rights wasn’t raised.

Still, Mr. Trump’s decision to impose tariffs may further undermine confidence in the US as a strategic partner in Southeast Asia, a region that consumes more than $100 billion in US exports each year and where America’s navy and air force often conduct military exercises.

In recent years some Asian leaders have questioned the US commitment.

Meanwhile China has poured money into Southeast Asia via trade and investment, while reclaiming land in the disputed South China Sea to build military structures.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China was dissatisfied with the Mr. Trump administration’s tariffs.

“We have also noticed that its allies and partners have reacted very strongly and actually many parties have expressed opposition,” Mr. Hua said at a regular briefing in Beijing.

“Against the backdrop of a massive collapse in confidence in America’s reliability, this protectionist measure is just going to exacerbate the situation,” said Richard Heydarian, a professor of political science at De La Salle University in Manila.

“It is going to make Mr. Trump look like a beleaguered, troubled leader who is scrambling to appeal to his base at the expense of America’s global standing, which is in free fall.” — Bloomberg