Hitting the Reset Button in the Indo-Pacific

The United States enters 2025 facing an increasingly insecure world. Locked into intensifying great power competition with China, the United States is now in a new, increasingly unfavorable, international environment. But, at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s sec­ond term, the United States has an opportunity to hit the reset button in the most critical region, the Indo-Pacific, and redefine its strategy to win the long-term competition for leadership and protect US inter­ests in the region.

The United States is challenged by a new multipolar reality whereby most non-aligned countries will opt to hedge against both China and the United States, while the revisionist coalition cooper­ates increasingly closely. The multipolar world is already in action: North Korean forces are now on the ground in Ukraine, fighting on behalf of Russia,1 while Iran continues to upend order in the Mid­dle East as it simultaneously supports Moscow. Looming above these threats stands the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the most pow­erful member of this coalition, with a growing risk of kinetic conflict over Taiwan or other regional flashpoints.

Yet, US resources and defense budgets are increasingly con­strained by rising US debt and a military industrial base in decline since the Cold War. While US technological capabilities set global standards, there are concerns nonetheless that the vastness of US military structure and extended commitments further complicate the next generation of warfighting capabilities. Moreover, although there is a consensus in Washington on the need to confront China, there is little agreement about the ends and means of doing so.

Fundamentally, US policy since the “Pivot to Asia” has simply not been working in the Indo-Pacific. Economic and military trends are moving in the wrong direction. Relative US influence is in decline against a host of rivals. It is time to hit the reset button in the In­do-Pacific.

The new US administration has a unique opportunity to adjust the nation’s China strategy to meet US interests in the Indo-Pacif­ic. The Wilson Center’s Indo-Pacific Program has developed a policy agenda for 2025 and beyond, underscoring the high stakes game that the United States must win to advance its national interests.

Read more in the newest report from the Indo-Pacific Program.