By just about every metric, U.S. President Joe Biden’s five-day trip to Japan and South Korea will be judged a success.
He confirmed the vitality of two alliances, strengthened economic ties with two critical partners in high-technology trade and made clear the importance of an evolving regional security architecture to the United States and other key nations.
But that won’t be enough to quiet doubts about U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. The launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), one of the highlights of this trip, revealed a truly skeletal agreement — far more potential than pact. Regional audiences worry about the Biden administration’s ability to put meat on the bones of that deal. Biden is doing a great job for most audiences, but the clock is already ticking on his term in office and observers know well the trends and tides that mark U.S. foreign policy. As numerous experts and officials have warned, regardless of what happens to Donald Trump, Trumpism endures and that threatens to undermine any triumphs from this trip.