Asia Watch Archive

U.S. President Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum this week spells economic trouble for Canada and Asia, as companies looking to export to the U.S. find themselves nearly priced out of the market.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth soothed some Indo-Pacific allies, chided others, and swiped at China in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last weekend, warning attendees that an invasion of Taiwan “could be imminent,” and acknowledging that the U.S. is “engaging with, enabling, and empowering our allies — sometimes with tough love.”

Now a month into governing, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s foreign policy is coming into focus, sharpened by the priorities laid out in a recent ministerial mandate letter and this week’s Throne Speech, and moves by his new foreign affairs minister.

South Korea’s long, volatile, national “nightmare” is nearly over. Voters will select the country’s new president on June 3, exactly six months after former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration sparked a tumultuous stretch of protests, political jockeying, and, ultimately, Yoon’s impeachment.

Pakistan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar, is visiting China this week to further strengthen economic, security, and defence ties between the two countries.

Leaders from the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, next week for a two-day meeting focused on trade between ASEAN members, U.S. tariffs and wider trade uncertainty, the Myanmar civil war, and tensions in the South China Sea.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s grip on political power loosened following a disappointing result in the country’s midterm elections this week, in a vote pitting the president against his one-time ally (and current bête noire), Vice President Sara Duterte.

The two largest economies in the world have reached a temporary tariff truce, much to the relief of investors and trading partners across the Indo-Pacific.

The U.S. and China wrapped their first round of trade talks in Geneva over the weekend, agreeing to roll back tariffs for 90 days while negotiations continue. The U.S. will cut its baseline rate on Chinese goods from 145 per cent to 30 per cent, while China will reduce its rate on American goods from 125 per cent to 10 per cent.

Defence chiefs from India and Japan met in New Delhi on Monday, committing to increase joint exercises, set up a senior officer-level dialogue, and protect major sea lanes in the Indo-Pacific as the region becomes “more complex and uncertain.”

Anthony Albanese and his centre-left Labor Party stormed to a majority win in Australia’s federal election on Saturday, receiving a strengthened mandate from voters in an election shaped by cost-of-living concerns, housing, health and child care, the environment, and the long shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump.

A terrorist attack that killed 26 people, most of them tourists, in Kashmir on April 22 has ignited a dangerous set of reprisals between India and Pakistan, which India blames for the attack.

Mark Carney’s Liberal Party secured a minority mandate in Canada’s federal election on Monday, a dramatic reversal of fortune for a party that was on the ropes a mere four months ago.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance commended India’s “laser-like focus on the future,” and called Indians “a people who will not be held back,” in a laudatory speech to business leaders, politicians, and students in Jaipur on Tuesday.

Some targets of the U.S.’s ‘shock-and-awe’ tariff strategy are moving from denial and anger to acceptance and even resistance, chafing at Washington’s demands and pitching new trade blocs of Asian and European economies.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte travelled to Japan for a two-day trip last week, meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and agreeing to deepen co-operation in the fields of maritime security, cyber, strategic communications, and interoperability.

This week, in his first overseas trip of 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping toured Southeast Asia, marketing China as a dependable partner to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia — three countries hit hard by fitful U.S.

Australia’s election campaign has so far focused on issues familiar to most Canadians: inflation, cost of living, housing, immigration, and tariffs.

The flames of a global trade war flickered, roared, and receded this week, as Asian markets felt the heat (and relief) of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariff plans, an escalating U.S.-China trade spat, and an uncertain outlook for global growth.

Last Friday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar has killed at least 2,700 people, turned buildings and bridges to rubble, and reshaped the civil war that has raged in the country since 2021.

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