Realistically, as far as trade is concerned, the most that Asian governments can hope for from Donald Trump’s visit to the region is that he does not do any significant damage. So far, his interventions have been ignorant but not substantively harmful. But a president in possession of serious misconceptions always retains the potential to cause havoc.
Well before his election, Mr Trump had several Asian countries in his sights. Their crime was running bilateral trade surpluses with the US. He unleashed his full rhetorical arsenal of threats against China and Japan for alleged curre ncy manipulation (a charge which was at best several years out of date) and recast trade relations between the countries.
Any serious analysis of current account balances finds that formal trade deals have a minimal impact. And to some extent, Mr Trump’s own actions have worsened the overall US deficit by encouraging a rush of imports before potential restrictions are imposed.