US Official Asserts Trump's Agenda In Tariff-hit Southeast Asia

The first US official to visit Southeast Asia since Washington announced punitive tariffs on the region's countries on Tuesday issued a robust defense of President Donald Trump's foreign policy approach.

Sean O'Neill, the United States' senior bureau official for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is in Cambodia this week, co-chairing the 37th ASEAN-US Dialogue.

The two-day meeting between Washington and the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc is being held in the city of Siem Reap.

Under Trump's "America First" trade policy, the United States has unleashed a tariff blitz which has plunged global markets into turmoil and escalated into a trade war between Washington and Beijing.

State Department representative O'Neill did not mention Trump's sweeping import duties, which have put the future of trade relations with Cambodia -- whose exports to the US were hit with 49 percent tariffs -- and the wider ASEAN region on a tightrope.

"President Trump's priorities are clear. We will pursue a foreign policy that makes America safer, stronger, and more prosperous," O'Neill said, adding the goal of his visit was to "represent the interests of the American people".

US goods imports from the ASEAN bloc totaled $352 billion last year, with a trade deficit of $228 billion, according to the US Trade Representative's office.

Meeting co-chair Kung Phoak, the secretary of state at Cambodia's foreign ministry, said the dialogue was an opportunity to "work more meaningfully together" and that both sides must remain "firmly committed to promoting mutually beneficial cooperation".

The State Department said the visit aims to reinforce US-ASEAN collaboration for a "free and open" Indo-Pacific that promotes "shared interests in safety, security and prosperity".

O'Neill, who visited Vietnam last week, is expected to travel to Japan in the coming days.