US President Donald Trump’s second term has sent the global economy into a tailspin with a torrent of  tariffs announced on 2 April.

In doing so, Trump has reinforced the United States’ regional image as a declining, unstable and unreliable hegemon among Southeast Asian young people.

Young Southeast Asians expressed increasing doubts about US leadership before Trump’s re-election.  Pre-election focus group discussions we conducted with 33 Southeast Asian elites aged between 18 to 35 from six ASEAN countries working in the business, policymaking and civil society sectors expressed concerns about the United States. They highlighted the US administration’s Gaza strategy and Washington’s perceived lack of respect for international law.

Young Southeast Asians are an emerging  demographic group essential for understanding how geopolitics affects Southeast Asia. Young people are  a significant political force – as seen in recent elections in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. With the growing accessibility of information through social media, many young elites may already be influential leaders.

They also lamented Washington’s inconsistent and erratic strategy in Southeast Asia before 2024 and worried that a second Trump term would portend the return of a more isolationist United States. Young people were cognisant that a Trump-led........

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