Last year was a frantic and unprecedented year for tariff and trade policies, headlined by President Trump’s destabilising ‘reciprocal’ tariff agenda. ASEAN countries are among the leading targets, with four of the ten highest initial ‘Liberation Day’ tariff rates reserved for ASEAN countries.

This paper takes stock of and seeks to learn from ASEAN’s experience managing and responding to Trump tariffs during 2025. It tracks the evolution of reciprocal tariff rates for the now 11 ASEAN member states and provides a brief capture of the evolving economic impacts. The paper then focuses on how ASEAN and its individual members responded to Trump’s tariff threat across three dimensions: negotiating with Washington, engaging with the region and beyond, and domestic economic measures. An analysis of these responses — highlighting what worked and what did not — derives lessons from the experience to inform a four-pronged strategy for navigating the continuing threat of Trump’s uncertain tariff agenda.

Key findings include: 

• Tariffs on ASEAN’s major exporters have converged and ‘settled’ at around the global average ‘reciprocal’ tariff of 20%.
• Trade and economic impacts have been minimal so far, supporting economic policy responses centred on monitoring not immediate, untargeted measures.
• ASEAN’s condemnation of tariffs, ruling out retaliation, calls for dialogue, partnership deepening, and establishment of monitoring mechanisms helped to mitigate worse impacts.
• But ASEAN’s major exporting countries quickly prioritised negotiations with Washington that undermined ASEAN unity and centrality. The benefits of this strategy are contestable, with the result being lopsided deals that legitimised Trump’s tariffs and undermined international trade rules that support economic development.
• ASEAN should act to restore and deepen its centrality, emphasise mutually beneficial partnerships for development, honour but adapt where possible its deals with the US, and prepare for further instability.