President Trump At ASEAN Summit: Bull In Southeast Asia Shop – OpEd

October 20, 2025 
By Lim Teck Ghee

With the clock ticking down on President Donald Trump’s attendance at the ASEAN summit meeting being held in Kuala Lumpur shortly, opposition to the invitation has intensified in the regional social media, although none of the mainstream media especially from the West has seen it newsworthy to report on this opposition

The call from many ASEAN social media commentators for the bloc to withdraw its invitation to Trump stem from a mix of historical precedent, current economic and geopolitical anxieties, and a rejection of his political style and policies.

These concerns can be discerned in several key areas:

1. Significant and Multifaceted Adverse Economic Impacts

Trump’s tariff war is arguably the most potent and immediate threat to ASEAN’s near-to-medium-term economic outlook. While internal challenges are significant, the US-driven global trade war would be an exogenous shock of a magnitude that could easily overshadow them and become the dominant negative factor for the region’s development.

· Broken Links: ASEAN is a critical node in global supply chains, particularly in electronics, automobiles, and textiles. Many products are manufactured across ASEAN, China, other Asia and Europe with components crossing borders multiple times. Trump initiated tariffs have disrupted this complex network and made it more expensive and logistically chaotic.

· Increased Production Costs: Companies have to deal with higher costs for imported components, squeezing profit margins and forcing costly and rapid reconfigurations of their supply chains.

· Global and Regional Slowdown: The IMF and World Bank have downgraded global growth forecasts due to the trade war. A weaker global economy means less demand for ASEAN’s exports, reduced earnings, greater fiscal challenges, rising unemployment and worsening of poverty in the region.

· Commodity Price Volatility: The uncertainty has led to fluctuations in global commodity prices, affecting key ASEAN agrarian sectors and rural populations.

2. Fear of Disruption and “MAGA” Diplomacy

ASEAN’s central principle is consensus and neutrality. The bloc operates through careful, quiet diplomacy, avoiding public confrontation and maintaining a balance between major powers.

· Trump’s Disruptive Style: Commentators point to his previous performances at international forums (like the G7 and NATO) where he openly berated allies, dismissed multilateralism, and prioritized bilateral transactional deals. They fear he would use the ASEAN summit as a stage to:Publicly pressure individual leaders on trade deficits or security commitments

Force a binary “with us or against us” choice regarding China, which ASEAN fiercely resists
Disrupt the carefully crafted, consensus-based language of the summit’s final communiqué.

· Perception of Disregard and Disrespect: His past behavior, such as skipping key ASEAN-related meetings during his previous presidency, has left a perception that he does not value the member organisation or its leaders. Inviting him back is seen as rewarding this dismissive and arrogant attitude.

3. Damage to ASEAN’s Centrality and Cohesion

“ASEAN Centrality” is the cornerstone of the bloc’s foreign policy. This is the long held and repeatedly reaffirmed position that ASEAN should be the primary driving force for regional architecture and geopolitics. Hence ASEAN’s fear and rejection of anti China groupings such as QUAD and AUKUS which U.S. foreign policy makers have initiated to contain China in the Indo Pacific region.

· Undermining the Bloc: Trump’s well-documented preference for unilateralism over multilateralism or even bilingualism is a direct threat to this concept. By dealing with countries one-on-one in the tariff war he is seen as weakening ASEAN’s collective bargaining power.

· Creating Division: Commentators fear he will exploit existing divisions within ASEAN (e.g., between claimants and non-claimants in the South China Sea) to benefit the U.S., thereby fracturing the unity that is essential for the bloc’s survival and relevance.

4. Concerns Over a Volatile and Unpredictable Agenda

Unlike a traditional political leader, Trump’s agenda is highly personal and unpredictable. This is the consensus not only of foreign governments and allies but also his domestic opposition in the U.S.

· Focus on Grievances, Not Cooperation: There is a concern that he is not coming to discuss regional cooperation on climate, digital economy, or infrastructure, or any of the region’s concerns but to air threats and grievances about trade, demand support for his political narrative, or launch new verbal attacks on China.

· The “Trump Show”: The summit could be hijacked and become about Trump himself – his statements, his controversies, his feuds – rather than about the substantive challenges and issues facing Southeast Asia. This diverts attention from ASEAN’s own goals and priorities.

5. Ideological and Normative Opposition

Many in Southeast Asia’s civil society and the educated youth are aligned with liberal democratic values. At the same time they are against any form of external pressure on how these values are manifested, and how outside forces may seek to impose their version on other societies.

· The “Trumpism” Brand: Trump’s political brand is associated with policies and rhetoric that are unpopular with these segments.

· Climate Change Denial: This is a critical issue for vulnerable ASEAN nations like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

· Authoritarian Sympathies: His praise for strongmen and autocrats is seen as undermining democratic movements and human rights in the region.

· Divisive Rhetoric: His comments on race, religion, and immigration are viewed as contrary to the pluralistic character of many Southeast Asian societies.

· Legitimizing a Figure They Oppose: For these commentators, inviting Trump is seen as legitimizing a figure many view as a threat to global stability and democratic norms. They do not want their region to be a platform for his political dominance and any new form of American hegemony.

6. The Domestic U.S. Political Context

The invitation is not happening in a vacuum.

· Legal Troubles: Trump is currently a defendant in multiple criminal and civil cases. Some commentators argue that it is inappropriate to extend a state-level invitation to a figure facing such serious legal charges.

· Political Instability: Inviting a leader who continues to challenge the legitimacy of U.S. electoral institutions and is engaged in military action and acts of war against Venezuela and other neighbouring countries in Latin America is seen as injecting U.S. domestic and foreign policy political turmoil into the ASEAN summit.

Conclusion: A Clash of Values and Styles

In summary, the call to withdraw the invitation is a reaction to the profound mismatch between the “ASEAN Way” (consensus, quiet diplomacy, neutrality, institution-building) and the “Trump Way” (transactional, unilateral, confrontational, personality-driven).

For the social media commentators and opponents against the visit, Trump represents volatility, disrespect for institutional norms, a forced choice in the U.S.- China rivalry that Asean (with the exception of one or two member countries) would prefer not to be entangled in, and what is seen as the latest manifestation of American hegemony in MAGA. They believe his presence can :Undermine ASEAN’s cohesion and centrality.
Shift the focus from regional concerns and cooperation to U.S. politics and geopolitical confrontation with China.

Legitimize a foreign policy and political style they find damaging to regional and global stability.

Therefore, they see disinviting him not as an act of hostility toward the United States, but as an act of protection for ASEAN’s own interests and principles.

The reality facing opponents of Trump’s visit is that there is no way the visit will not take place. A disinvitation may be seen as diplomatic harakiri for ASEAN. Hence the better strategy is to encourage Trump to play a positive role in supporting the bloc’s peaceful and sustainable development by curtailing American foreign policy and economic actions aimed at bullying and exploiting the organization’s member nations.

One recent positive example is in the most recent outbreak of armed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. The breakthrough ceasefire was the result of a coordinated effort. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim played the central role as the host and mediator, while Trump, according to some sources, is said to have applied diplomatic and economic pressure credited with pushing the parties to agree to a truce.*

On its part, ASEAN should also, at the summit, explore the possibility of playing a mediator role in the current U.S.- China trade conflict. Whilst ASEAN’s primary focus should be on shielding its own economies from the collateral damage of the trade war and strengthening its own regional resilience, ASEAN actions and strategic importance can create important indirect pathways to influence the broader dynamic of deals that can benefit member countries now facing Trump’s tariff bazooka.

*Trump and his admirers claim he stopped seven or eight wars when proposing he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Seven was a frequently cited number by Trump, particularly in the context of his claims at the U.N. General Assembly. This number includes his role in the recent Thailand – Cambodia conflict.

Lim Teck Ghee

Lim Teck Ghee PhD is a Malaysian economic historian, policy analyst and public intellectual whose career has straddled academia, civil society organisations and international development agencies. He has a regular column, Another Take, in The Sun, a Malaysian daily; and is author of Challenging the Status Quo in Malaysia.