In the U.S. presidential election, as I noted in a very brief post on this topic for CFR.org, the race remains very close between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris, who are joined by their running mates, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, respectively.
Yet despite the closeness of the race –– the two candidates are tied or within a few points of each other in critical swing states — the two tickets would have dramatically different approaches to Asia policy.
The Trump-Vance ticket, while disdaining many of the United States’ traditional European allies and openly voicing skepticism of continuing to support Ukraine, has signaled an extremely hawkish approach to China and a desire to push countries in Asia to clearly side with Washington or Beijing. However, the campaign has said little about how human rights issues in Asia would factor into U.S. decision-making. Trump has floated the possibility of high tariffs on Chinese products, a move that could decimate economies in Asia and around the world.
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