Trump’s Betrayal: Japan, Australia, and South Korea Join RCEP With China
America’s closest allies are choosing China over the U.S.—and Trump is to blame
For decades, the United States worked to build alliances in Asia, and it succeeded. After World War II, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand stood firmly behind Washington, bound by defense treaties, trade agreements, and above all, trust. Now the Trump-Republican regime is breaking these bonds, pulling the US out of the region as a power, and driving America’s closest Pacific-Asian allies to China. Whether this is intentional or just incompetence is unknown, but it is happening.
And here’s what’s happening. Next month, leaders from Asia’s largest economies will gather in Malaysia. This isn’t a routine summit. It’s the meeting of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest trade bloc. Together, its members account for 30% of global GDP.
The shock for Washington is that all four of its key Pacific allies are members of this bloc, standing alongside China.
Why It Happened
Trump’s tariffs set this realignment in motion. By raising costs unpredictably, he pushed partners to search for stability elsewhere. That stability was found in the RCEP, an agreement headed by China that reduces tariffs, smooths supply chains, and prioritizes collective growth.
The contrast could not be sharper. Trump closes markets. China opens them. Trump punishes trade. RCEP rewards it. Trump wants personal deals. China wants international agreements. For nations dependent on predictable rules to plan their economies, the choice is obvious.
The Cultural Shift
At the heart of this move is a clash of cultural approaches.
Trump operates on a variable approach—deals are based on what benefits Trump at the moment, rules are rewritten for Trump’s advantage, and compliance is with Trump’s desires, not with international regulations or norms.
RCEP embodies a rules-based system. Treaties based on mutual benefit for the nations, not the leaders, prioritize long-term predictability, and cooperation is structured to reduce uncertainty.
This split reveals two very different archetypes in action. Trump embodies The Power Seeker, but in a pathological form. In Hornby’s framework, the Power Seeker channels ambition and dominance toward building influence. At its best, this archetype can drive nations forward. But when taken to the extreme, it becomes reckless, destructive, and dangerous. Trump’s tariffs treat every trade relationship as a contest of strength, a zero-sum game where America must dominate or walk away.
RCEP, by contrast, reflects The Bridge Builder (Middle), designed to connect nations, reduce barriers, and create stability through cooperation. Where the Power Seeker isolates, the Bridge Builder integrates. Where Trump demands submission, RCEP offers mutual benefit.
Read more about Hornby’s Archetypes here
For allies like Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand —societies that rely heavily on stability, planning, and collective interdependence —Trump’s unpredictability is unsustainable. Choosing China through RCEP was less about rejecting the US and more about protecting their economies.
Why It Matters
This is not just about trade flows. It’s about the architecture of global power. As the RCEP grows stronger, the United States will lose its role as the world’s trade hub. That has direct consequences:
Prices in America will rise, as tariffs and isolation drive costs higher.
Jobs will continue to move overseas, following the new trade networks centered on Asia.
Unemployment will increase as American markets shrink and domestic demand decreases due to high prices and jobs moving abroad.
The US dollar will weaken, eroding its status as the reserve currency, the foundation of global finance. This is America’s true power, and once lost, so is the US.
America’s allies are not “betraying” Washington out of disloyalty. They are adapting to a cultural and economic order where predictability is necessary. Japan, South Korea, and Australia cannot afford to gamble their economies on Trump’s shifting tariffs and threats. Their industries need stable rules to plan investments years in advance. Their governments need consistent partnerships to manage supply chains and energy flows. Trump’s erratic policies left them no choice but to build a future with China, a partner offering clarity, even if it comes with strings attached.
The US still frames itself as the indispensable hub of global trade, the anchor of stability in a chaotic world. But the US is making the world chaotic. Every new agreement signed under RCEP reduces the American chaos and the centrality of the American market. Each tariff imposed by Washington makes its goods less competitive.
The decisions being made right now in Malaysia are not symbolic; they are laying the foundations of a trade order where the United States is on the outside looking in. America’s closest allies are already building a world without it.
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