ISEAS Perspective: Recalibrating Southeast Asia’s Climate and Energy Strategies Amid US Policy Shifts
The USAID logo on an electric tricycle at the Pasig Eco Hub, a project impacted by the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid, on 10 March 2025 in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines | Photo by Ezra Acayan/GETTY IMAGES ASIAPAC/Getty Images via AFP.
In this paper published by NYSEAN Partner ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Angel Hsu and Silvia Landa discuss how the US government has withdrawn both domestically and globally from climate and clean energy engagement. This withdrawal has been marked by a dismantling of foreign development assistance, proposed rollbacks of the Inflation Reduction Act, and aggressive tariffs. They assert that these policy shifts undermine the possibility of bilateral clean energy and climate collaboration with Southeast Asian nations.
Angel Hsu is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a Wang Gungwu Visiting Fellow under the Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute from November 2024 - February 2025. Guest writer, Silvia Landa, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Researcher in the Data-Driven EnviroLab.
