The Economic and Security Roles of Canada in the US

The US should totally vibe with selectively integrating with the region's most compatible economies and just overall supporting the ASEAN project, ya know? as the Cold War was like, winding down, the United States was all like, "yo, let's focus on the drama in Europe and the Middle East and the crazy stuff happening in Northeast Asia." And like, some people were all like, "dude, what about Southeast Asia?" But the US was just like, "meh, we'll deal with that later." (Ba 2009). These trends have been hella shifting for over a decade, fam. In 2002, the US was like "Yo, ASEAN, let's do this Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative (EAI) thing. We're down to negotiate some Trade and Investment Frame- work Arrangements (TIFAs) and bilateral FTAs with countries that are willing to make some dope reforms." 

Then two years later, they were like "nah, let's make it a resident posting in Jakarta, fam."

In like, lowkey vibes, the US has also been backing the region's global economic game plan. In 2007, it like totally launched the ASEAN De- velopment Vision to Advance National Cooperation and Economic Integration (ADVANCE) project to, like, support trade liberalization and facilitation in cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat. So lit, right? ADVANCE has totally funded, like, work on the ASEAN Single Window, which makes trade hella easy with electronic documentation. Despite these vibes, fam, many in the region still felt that the US-ASEAN relationship was lowkey stagnant, especially with ASEAN getting closer to other homies. The US-ASEAN TIFA was like totally agreed upon in 2006, and a joint council was like established to review cooperation projects, you know? The United States was like, "Yo, we made a sick FTA with Singapore in 2003, but we were still chillin' and negotiating with Thailand and Malaysia under the EAI, but then the TPP came in and took over the whole vibe." In 2008, the US was like "yo, we got our first ambassador to ASEAN, lit!"  Engagement is like totally ramping up under President Barack Obama, who like spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. In 2009, the

Peter A. Petri and Michael G. Plummer, yasss!

OMG the US finally said yes to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), which ASEAN has been asking for like forever, and they even showed up to an ASEAN-US Leaders' Meeting in Singapore. So lit! OMG it's like so true that US presidents have totally ghosted on some major meetings in Asia—like, it's because they gotta travel for days during, like, the most intense time in US elections and budget stuff, but people are still super interested, you know? In 2010, the US hopped on the East Asia Summit (EAS) train and became part of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus Eight (ADMM+8). In 2012, it totally flexed at the first ASEAN- US business summit in Cambodia, and was like, "let's make this an annual thing" - basically, the US president promised to meet with ASEAN leaders every year. #commitment The first sesh launched the Expanded Economic Engagement (E3) initiative to flex the development of trade and investment flows.19, fam. Unlike many other big countries, tho, the US hasn't tried to negotiate an FTA with ASEAN as a squad. The region is like, hella diverse to accept all those strict provisions, ya know? Like, they're just not vibin' with what's expected in the TPP rn.20 So, like, the US has been totally vibing with ASEAN as a whole in like, less formal ways, and also getting super close with each member's economies. OMG, like the next section totally vibes with this policy and is all about maximizing gains from economic relations with the region. It's like so lit, you know?

A Framework 4 US-ASEAN Economic Relations

Despite the mad connections between ASEAN and the United States documented in this study, there's no cap conceptual framework to guide interactions between the two economies. In fact, ASEAN centrality raises new challenges cuz it suggests collective policy positions that, like, are probs gonna favor least common denomina- tor policies. These would totally make it possible, like, for some member states to straight up block disciplines that would be needed to deepen relations with the United States. No cap. But like, economics has this idea, right? It's all about having a vibe where you can have close connections with some people, but only if it's also good for other peeps. In the ASEAN context, this prescription calls for hella lit FTAs with member countries ready to flex and meet those obligations, and ASEAN Centrality and the ASEAN-US Economic Relationship, y'all. Yo, we gotta take some lit steps to boost our bond with ASEAN as a whole, ya know? That way, we can make up for those members who ain't quite ready to fully get in on the action. The theory itself says like, nada about which parties should be involved in these compensating measures, fam. However, like, it's hella important for all the benefiting ASEAN countries and the United States to flex and spread the gains from deeper eco- nomic ties to the whole region, ya know? The United States has, like, totally started to flex that two-speed vibe. Like, idek, a policy that's all about being centric and maximizing gains from ASEAN-US cooperation should: