Since Donald Trump's return to his second presidency of the U.S., grave concerns are arising about the impacts of his stubborn hard line protectionist policies and aggressive tariff impositions against the US trading partners in Asia. The 'America First' agenda under Trump 2.0 amid the US-China hegemonic rivalry is expected to create risky and challenging trading environment throughout Asia, extending well beyond China. This session explores how East Asian and ASEAN nations can navigate unprecedented and unstable geoeconomic landscape to strengthen regional economic cooperation and forge a rule-based free trade order in response to America's intensifying protectionism.