What Obama Didn't Get Done in Asia

President Barack Obama’s recent visit to Asia has been described as a triumph by some observers, as well as by the administration itself. On the trip, which included meetings with leaders in China and Myanmar and appearances at two Asian regional organizations, the White House announced a climate agreement with Beijing that would commit the U.S. and China to meeting targets for cutting carbon emissions. It also announced further supposed breakthroughs. The U.S. and China agreed to a new system of notifying each other of military movements in the region, and they agreed to cut tariffs on some IT equipment. Obama also declared that the Pacific nations were close to concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

The reality is harsher. The breakthroughs won in Asia will be impossible for Obama to implement. And the administration’s attempts to turn U.S. policy toward Asia, a strategy known as “the pivot,” or the “rebalance to Asia,” has actually made the economic and political situation in East Asia worse.