1 ISSUE: 2020 No. 112 ISSN 2335-6677 RESEARCHERS AT ISEAS – YUSOF ISHAK INSTITUTE ANALYSE CURRENT EVENTS Singapore | 7 October 2020 The Trump Administration and Southeast Asia: Half-time or Game Over? Ian Storey and Malcolm Cook* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • US relations with key Southeast Asian states including Vietnam and Thailand have improved under the first Trump administration despite the pervasive view in the region of US disengagement from Southeast Asia under President Trump. • A second Trump presidency would mean that the disruptive nativist populism of his first term has become accepted political practice in the United States. • A Biden victory will not mean a return to the Obama administration’s Asia policy. • Reversing or stopping America’s relative loss of influence in Southeast Asia to China will likely be beyond either a second Trump or a Biden administration. * Ian Storey is Senior Fellow and Malcolm Cook is Visiting Senior Fellow at the ISEAS- Yusof Ishak Institute.