In his quest to corner China, US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs will punish some of the most vulnerable economies in Asia as collateral damage. It is strategic recklessness dressed up as patriotic theater.
While the headlines focus on China, the harshest tariff hikes have landed not in Beijing, but in Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Yangon and Hanoi.
Cambodia has been slapped with a 49% rate; Laos, 48%; Myanmar, still staggering from a deadly earthquake and years of political unrest, now faces a 44% tariff on exports to the US. Vietnam, until recently hailed as an economic success story, has been hit with 46%.
Washington is firing trade weapons at China’s supply chain, and it’s Asia’s poorest nations that are taking the hit.
This approach doesn’t just defy the spirit of global trade; it threatens to choke off the economic lifelines of entire regions. These countries are not gaming the global system; they are building basic prosperity.
Many rely on export-led growth to support fragile job markets and keep hard-won development gains from slipping away. Hitting them with tariffs of this magnitude is like taxing ambition. It discourages progress, stalls local industry and tells developing nations they are dispensable in the geopolitical game.
Trump claims these tariffs are about ending decades of being “cheated” by other countries. But let’s be honest: this is not about Cambodia, Laos or Myanmar.
This is a blunt attempt to undermine China by targeting the countries it invests in or operates through. These are nations that have become tightly woven into regional manufacturing ecosystems—many of them hosting Chinese-owned or funded operations.
The US isn’t just retaliating against China; it is attacking its Asian footprint.
But here’s the catch: these countries are not just hosts to Chinese capital. They’re also homes to workers, local suppliers and growing middle classes. They represent opportunity—for themselves and for the global economy.
Cutting them off from one of the world’s biggest markets doesn’t weaken China. It weakens the prospects of regional stability and shared growth. And it hands Beijing a propaganda victory on a plate.
If the US truly wants to lead on trade, this is the wrong road. It can’t win the trust of Asia by targeting its poorest nations. And it certainly can’t outcompete China by disrupting the very networks that American businesses also rely on.
US brands like Nike and Adidas, for instance, produce heavily in Southeast Asia. Will they now be penalized for operating where labor is affordable and supply chains are efficient?
All in all, Trump’s policy is misguided and self-harming. It sends a message to global firms that the rules are no longer predictable. It will fuel inflation at home by making consumer goods more expensive. It will weaken the alliances the US will need if it wants to offer a serious economic alternative to China’s growing dominance.
Trump’s tariff strategy also diminishes Washington’s moral leadership. For decades, the US championed a system of open markets, development support and mutually beneficial trade. That soft power mattered. It brought countries closer to each other and America.
Today, that goodwill is being shredded in favor of nationalist grandstanding. And, in that vacuum, others will step in—particularly China, whose deep pockets and infrastructure deals suddenly look a lot more attractive to governments on the receiving end of American “reciprocal” tariffs.
What we are witnessing is the US retreating from global economic leadership, a rash and wrongheaded lashing out at the very regions that had been sold on and still believe in the promise of globalization.