Private Sector Insights on Navigating US Trade Policy: Findings from ASEAN Business Dialogues

This paper synthesises insights from two business engagement dialogues organised by ERIA in 2025: the ASEAN Business Dialogue in Jakarta (August 2025) and the ASEAN Semiconductor Business Dialogue in Kuala Lumpur (October 2025). The report captures private sector perspectives on adapting to evolving US trade policies, including reciprocal tariffs.

The dialogues reveal that ASEAN businesses are responding through deliberate, long-term strategies rather than reactive measures. Firms are pursuing greater cost efficiency through regional clustering, which can reduce logistics costs by 30%–40%, while also diversifying export markets beyond the United States towards fast-growing regions such as Africa, Latin America, and the European Union. However, the discussions also identified five structural challenges constraining ASEAN’s ability to fully capitalise on these opportunities: complex domestic regulations, restrictive rules of origin, shortages of high-skilled talent in technology sectors, underdeveloped critical minerals processing capacity, and fragmented market access strategies.

Key policy recommendations emerging from the dialogues include accelerating negotiations on the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) upgrade, developing a common ASEAN-wide rules of origin framework, promoting industry-led education and workforce reforms, building co-ordinated regional capabilities in critical minerals processing, and advancing a more unified ASEAN export strategy towards emerging markets. Overall, the dialogues underscore that realising ASEAN’s competitive potential will require member states to move from competition towards complementarity, supported by sustained co-ordination between governments and the private sector to strengthen regional resilience.