Abstract

Less than a year into the second Trump administration, it is abundantly evident that US foreign policy is rapidly evolving—at times in unpredictable and unsettling ways. This is particularly acute in the Indo-Pacific where the Trump administration has not only levied tariffs on friend and foe alike but also angered and frustrated American allies and partners and called into question longstanding US objectives and strategies in the region. This presentation will, to the extent possible, explain Trump 2.0’s Indo-Pacific strategy and consider the potential implications for Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia.

About the Speaker

Derek Grossman is Professor of the Practice of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. At USC, he teaches courses on Indo-Pacific security and political affairs, US foreign policy, and US national security.

Professor Grossman is also Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Indo-Pacific Security Program for the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He previously served as Senior Defence Analyst at RAND and Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Before RAND, he served over a decade in the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), where he served as the daily intelligence briefer to the director of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), and to the assistant secretary of defence for Asian & Pacific Security Affairs. Professor Grossman wrote an award-winning paper for the IC’s “Galileo Competition,” which solicits innovative ideas to optimize IC enterprise management practices. Prior to DIA, Professor Grossman served at the National Security Agency (NSA). He also worked at the CIA on the President’s Daily Brief staff.

Professor Grossman is widely quoted regionally and globally. He has interviewed with BBC, Bloomberg, LA Times, CNN, Washington Post, NPR, CNBC, South China Morning Post, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and many others. Professor Grossman has published dozens of commentaries and journal articles, including for Asia Policy, China Brief, ChinaFile, Defence Dossier, Foreign Policy, Global Taiwan Brief, International Security, Journal of International Security Affairs, Newsweek, PacNet, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Studies in Intelligence, The Diplomat, The Hill, The National Interest, War on the Rocks, and World Politics Review.

Professor Grossman holds an M.A. from Georgetown University in U.S. national security policy and a B.A. from the University of Michigan in political science and Asian studies.