U.S. President-elect Donald Trump faces a very tall task in Asia: balancing mercantilist campaign pledges with the need to tap the world's fastest-growing economies.
With America's "Asia pivot" more punch line than workable policy, Trump must shift from vitriol to seeking opportunities for growth, trade and partnership. President Barack Obama's look-east gambit got bogged down in security squabbles, territorial spats and internecine Washington politics. Can Trump see it through?
If you're thinking "fat chance, Trump will never do that," you're not alone. His varying pronunciations of "China," apparent view that Asia is some homogeneous mass of sweatshops, sense that Japan is stealing U.S. jobs the way it did in the 1980s and penchant to trash-talking foreign leaders leave serious room for doubt. Wednesday's 920-point plunge in the Nikkei said it all.