Potential Trump redux: Unrestrained in Asia or bound by a changed region?

The potential return of Donald Trump to the White House has raised eyebrows in Asia, with some experts and former officials suggesting that a victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election could see Trump’s more destructive impulses unleashed on the region.

If American voters in November again choose Trump, who is the heavy favorite to win the Republican nomination, the decision will have potentially serious implications for Japan, which lost its most effective “Trump whisperer” with the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

“A return to the White House by Donald Trump would have adverse and destabilizing effects on the Indo-Pacific region and on U.S. interests there,” said Daniel Russel, who was the assistant secretary of state for East Asia under President Barack Obama.