RIETI Report March 13, 2026

ASEAN’s Quiet Masterclass in Crisis Leadership

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Dear Readers,

Welcome to RIETI Report. This bi-weekly newsletter will keep you updated with the recent columns, event information and research results by RIETI fellows and other leading economists in Japan and around the world.

In this edition, we feature topics related to ASEAN and its increasingly strategic role in global trade. Although ASEAN is often characterized as slow and consensus-bound, the region’s response to the U.S. tariff shock demonstrates a notable degree of coordination. As RIETI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Shiro Armstrong underscores, many larger economies navigating today’s global economic disorder can draw key lessons from their collective action.

We hope you will enjoy it. If you have any feedback, we would love to hear from you (news-info@rieti.go.jp).
Editors of RIETI Report (Facebook: @en.RIETI / X: @RIETIenglish / URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/)

This month's featured article

ASEAN’s Quiet Masterclass in Crisis Leadership

Shiro ARMSTRONGNon-Resident Fellow, RIETI

Southeast Asia rarely gets credit for strategic statecraft. To many, “ASEAN” sounds like a familiar frustration: consensus-driven, slow-moving, and heavy on declarations. Yet in the most severe shock to the trading system in three quarters of a century—the protectionist surge that followed the beginning of the second Trump administration—ASEAN has responded with a speed, discipline, and strategic clarity that many other groupings of countries, especially given ASEAN’s diversity, would struggle to match. If you are looking for an “unsung success” in today’s global economic disorder, ASEAN’s recent performance belongs near the top of the list.

>>> Read the full article
https://www.rieti.go.jp/users/shiro-armstrong/serial/010.html

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