America under Trump: A more demanding, less reliable partner in Asia

That means US friends and allies have some hard choices to make.

- Hugh White

There is no room for doubt now. When Mr. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump four years ago, it was easy for America's friends and allies in Asia to believe that Trump was an aberration, and that his defeat meant the US we had always known was back. Today it seems that Mr. Biden was the aberration. Unlike in 2016, Trump on Nov 5 won a clear majority of the popular vote and the Electoral College, and across the country his vote rose in 90 percent of the counties that have reported so far. The scale of his victory sends a clear message that US allies and friends ignore at their peril. The image of America as the benign leader of a liberal global order and the steadfast guardian of peace and stability around the world - Mr. Biden's vision - just does not wash with a clear majority of Americans. It is even clearer now than it was in 2016 that the United States is not the country we thought it was.

Now we have to work out what that means for the many countries that have so willingly relied on America for their peace and security. In the short term, all eyes will be on Ukraine, to see whether the president-elect makes good on his promise to bring a swift end to the war by, in effect, compelling Ukraine to accept the loss of one-fifth of its territory.

But, in the longer term, the most momentous questions are here in Asia. How will Trump position America in the titanic economic and strategic contest with China? And how will he deal with American allies in Asia who have looked to Washington to shield them from Beijing's growing power and ambition?

The questions are especially acute for Australia, which under the Biden administration has drawn markedly closer to the US through the Aukus nuclear submarine deal, and through cooperation under the four-nation Quad framework.