After years of looking to China as a source of growth, Southeast Asian countries are turning their attention back to the world’s largest economy on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
Exports to the US from all but one of the six largest economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations increased in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the most recent data from the International Monetary Fund. Shipments to China declined in four of the countries in the same period.
The improvement in US sales comes against the backdrop of a contraction in trade across East Asia, the manufacturing hub of the world. It also shows the US — Asean’s largest trading partner as recently as 2007, but now ranked third behind China and Japan — is making a comeback as a key source of demand for Asian goods.
“The US is one of the few places where demand is still growing,” Trinh Nguyen, a senior economist at Natixis SA in Hong Kong, said by phone. “The US used to be the engine of growth in Asia, then it got sidelined by China and it’s now back.”
The stronger dollar is helping by making US imports from Asia cheaper, while consumer spending is also holding up well.
