In a 2011 speech to the Australian parliament, President Barack Obama announced a new focus on Asia-Pacific -- what has widely become known as the pivot to Asia. At the heart of Obama's strategy for deepened U.S. involvement was a commitment to regional multilateralism.
From his decision to join the East Asia Summit in the earliest days of his administration to signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement in his final months in office, Obama believed that the U.S. could best sustain its interests through strengthening regional institutions.
