The Asia Society Policy Institute and the Hinrich Foundation jointly hosted a roundtable with guests from across policy, businesses, and academia on the future of Asia, the plurilateral era, and the rules-based order last week. The panel discussed new trade arrangements, how to expand them, interim steps, sectors and supply chains, Asia’s position and who should lead such efforts.

The roundtable is part of a series of expert discussions that ASPI is convening across Asia and in Washington to gather insights and explore potential pathways for Asia to preserve and strengthen the rules-based trading system through plurilateral arrangements. ASPI will prepare a report on the insights from these discussions, under the Chatham House Rule, reflecting the perspectives shared and offering actionable recommendations for policymakers.

As the world continues to reel from President Trump’s global tariffs and the worsening US-China relationship, there has been a proliferation of bilateral, plurilateral, and regional trade agreements. Asia has been at the forefront of much of this expansion. As countries in the region now focus on addressing the challenge of unilateral action, policymakers are considering how they can counter-balance these developments with concerted plurilateral action with like-minded partners.

The roundtable discussed how existing plurilateral arrangements might be expanded to welcome new partners, possible new arrangements and groupings Asian countries could be exploring, sectoral and supply chain agreements, as well as the roles of the World Trade Organization, the world’s largest economies, and the leadership needed to drive these new initiatives.

Some photos from the session: