Strategic Rebalancing and the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Assessing U.S. Security and Trade Policy toward Asia under Obama

• October 30, 2014

Centerpieces of United States policy toward Asia—especially East and Southeast Asia—during the Obama presidency have included the “pivot” or “rebalancing” on the security side and seeking a massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement on the economic side.  With midterm congressional elections looming and the Obama administration beset by foreign policy challenges from outside the East and Southeast Asian region, this full-day conference will assess the progress, problems and prospects of “rebalancing” and the TPP. Is rebalancing reassuring the U.S.’s treaty allies and less formal partners and friends in the region and addressing their concerns about the implications of China’s rise and assertiveness and their possible doubts about U.S. will and commitment? On what terms and in what timeframe might the long-developing and much criticized TPP move forward, and how is its potential impact affected by China and other states’ pursuit of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership? What implications do developments and difficulties with U.S. rebalancing and the TPP have for each other?

For more information about the event or the individual panelists and moderators, please visit the conference’s event page.

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