Donald Trump's admirably long 12-day Asia trip was a critical opportunity to define his Asia policy, his vision of the future. Unfortunately, both the good and bad news is that he succeeded.
Trump's over-arching theme of "a free and open Indo-Pacific" was shoplifted from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has made it a centerpiece of his foreign policy. But for Abe, the meaning of that message is upholding and updating a rules-based order that has facilitated Asia's economic success over the past half century. For Trump, the theme is paired with "America First" -- blowing up the rules-based order the U.S. has been instrumental in creating and enforcing, and replacing it with old-fashioned inter-nation rivalry. Yet Trump appears unaware of that inherent contradiction.
