Recounting Donald Trump’s visit to five countries in East Asia in November, this Special Forum asks if divisions across the region have since widened or narrowed. It examines political, economic, security, and civilizational divisions, stressing developments in the course of Trump’s trip and its immediate aftermath. Trump rallied his counterparts in Asia behind intensified pressure on North Korea, a new trade framework, and, somewhat amorphously, a new conceptualization of the region ranging from Japan to India. Special attention is given below to the way Japan and South Korea responded to Trump’s visits, but given that China was the most important stop on Trump’s trip, all of the authors follow closely any developments in US relations with China. In economic and political dimensions, Trump’s visits to Vietnam and the Philippines figure into the coverage too. This was an important and extensive first trip to the region by a president bent on transforming US foreign policy—a closer scrutiny was thus warranted.

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