They don’t get it. As Donald Trump embarks on his project to restructure the global trade order, many countries are proceeding with business as usual. They recognize the challenge that the 47th U.S. president presents, but they’re responding with the language and logic of a bygone era. They’re talking past each other.
In recent conversations in Phnom Penh, for example, before Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement of tariffs on all U.S. imports, Cambodian participants in a U.S.-Cambodia dialogue on strategic concerns made the case for continued engagement with the U.S. in traditional terms. After all, the U.S. is the country’s No. 1 trade partner; it’s nearly $12.7 billion in imports from Cambodia in 2024 was more than three times that of Vietnam, the number two destination ($3.6 billion).
Cambodians cheered a global economic system premised on free trade and ever greater market access that promoted “win-win” solutions for all participants.
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