After four tempestuous years on the outside, U.S. President Donald Trump burst back onto the scene on Monday, reclaiming the presidency and pledging to “put America first” by overhauling trade, building the “strongest military the world has ever seen,” and slapping tariffs and taxes on other countries to usher in “the golden age of America.”
In his inauguration speech from inside the Capitol Rotunda, Trump hinted at his foreign policy aspirations, reaffirming plans to establish an External Revenue Service to collect tariffs, duties, and revenues and criticizing China’s presence in the Panama Canal. Trump also suggested the U.S. would “expand [its] territory.”
On Monday evening, he issued an “America First Trade Policy” memorandum to his newly confirmed secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and other cabinet members.
The missive tasks his administration with “[investigating] the causes of our country’s large and persistent annual trade deficits in goods,” kickstarting the public consultation process for the renewal of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), and weighing the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump also mused about applying a 25 per cent tariff to all Canadian and Mexican goods come February 1, a move that would violate the terms of CUSMA. He said on Tuesday that he’s also considering a blanket 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese goods.
Asia watching at the inauguration
Foreign ministers from ‘Quad’ countries Australia, Japan, and India attended the inauguration, with India’s S. Jaishankar scoring a particularly prominent seat at the ceremony.
Japan’s foreign minister was expected to convey Tokyo’s ‘red lines’ to Rubio on Tuesday, notably an assurance from Washington that it would protect Japan with a full range of military capabilities, including nuclear. Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru told reporters the same day that the date for a U.S.-Japan leaders’ summit “will be set before too long.”
A bipartisan group of a dozen South Korean lawmakers were also in Washington, D.C., on Monday, with representatives from the People Power Party keen to discuss “North Korea’s nuclear advancements and its close military ties with Russia.”
Seoul will similarly be looking for a security guarantee from Trump, akin to the Biden administration’s pledge in 2023 that promised “extended deterrence to South Korea.”
From competition to conflict?
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was also present for Trump’s swearing-in, meeting beforehand with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, who heads Trump’s newly established Department for Government Efficiency.
TikTok’s CEO also attended the ceremony. Trump's contentious order on Monday to unilaterally delay a U.S. ban of TikTok — a circuitous process instigated by Trump himself in 2020 — may augur well for U.S.-China relations in the short term, but the move dances around larger, looming bilateral irritants.
For example, on Monday, Trump directed his administration to “assess [...] fentanyl flows” from China and recommend “appropriate trade and national security measures” in response. Meanwhile, the Chinese readout of a January 17 call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed, above all, “the Taiwan question,” as well as avoiding “confrontation and conflict.”
Last week, Rubio labelled China “the most potent, dangerous, and near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.” The characterization is a departure from the more tempered language favoured by Rubio’s predecessor, Antony Blinken, who emphasized competition over conflict.
