Perry World House Hosts Future of Security in the Indo-Pacific Workshop
As the Trump administration seeks to develop its national security and defense strategies, eyes are on how Washington will interact with the vast Indo-Pacific region. Regional actors are interested in the future of minilateral groupings like the Australia-UK-U.S. trilateral security partnership (AUKUS) and the Australia-India-Japan-U.S. security alliance (the Quad), how tariffs will be implemented against allies and adversaries alike, Trump’s vision for conventional and non-conventional deterrence, and the future of the Philippines’ push against the People’s Republic of China in the South China Sea, among other topics.
On April 9 and 10, 2025, in part due to the generous support of Carnegie Corporation of New York, Perry World House hosted leading experts, scholars, and practitioners—including PWH Distinguished Visiting Fellows Mara Karlin and Antonio Carpio and Wolk Visiting Fellow Richard Fontaine—to discuss these issues and more. In a keynote program, Fontaine and moderator Amy Gadsden, Penn’s associate vice provost for global initiatives, discussed the history U.S. pivot to Asia and what the future holds for the region under Trump.
Participants explored major questions on the effect of uncertainty in the United States on how countries throughout the Indo-Pacific will change their own relations throughout the region. There was a focus on the possibility of black swan events to upend the regional global order in a way similar to the COVID19 pandemic, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, and 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
As China continues to increase its influence throughout the Indo-Pacific, the United States and its allies and partners will need to answer difficult questions: what is the future of deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, and how might investments in military capabilities by the United States and its allies and partners in the region shape that future? What role will minilateral groups play in the Trump administration’s foreign policy? Participants had detailed dialogue on these topics, and we will be publishing papers and reports emerging from the workshop in the weeks and months ahead.
Perry World House Wolk Visiting Fellow and Center for a New American Security Chief Executive Director Richard Fontaine speaking on a panel on minilateralism in the age of Trump 2.0.
Perry World House Distinguished Visiting Fellow Mara Karlin discussing the future of minilateral groupings during the second Trump administration.
Perry World House Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Former Supreme Court Justice of the Philippines Antonio Carpio discussing international law and conflict disputes in the South China Sea.
