The steps taken by the region’s governments over the last year should be seen as a response to a wider trend toward protectionism.
2024 was an eventful year in ASEAN. Clean energy had its ups and downs across the region, tourism and travel continued their slow recovery toward pre-pandemic levels, and countries like Thailand pushed ahead with big fiscal spending packages. Nevertheless, if we look back on 2024 and try to pinpoint the most noteworthy developments it really comes down to one story: protectionism and economic nationalism are on the rise, and it doesn’t seem like they are going away anytime soon.
There are actually two parts to th
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