Assessing ASEAN Centrality in the Contemporary Geopolitical Landscape: A Comparative Perspective with the European Union

With Trump’s tariffs meeting its deadline in August 2025, the EU and ASEAN are affected. Given the treatment both entities received from Trump, it has led to the question of how both are relevant on the global stage, and which one is more relevant. This study attempted to tackle this question by analyzing economic data obtained from the official pages of both ASEAN and the EU, and data from the IMF regarding current and projected GDP. Using descriptive statistics with the use of the independent t-test, it was found that ASEAN has strong diplomatic clout and is projected to perform economically better than the EU. This leads to the conclusion that ASEAN is at least as physically, diplomatically, and economically equal to the EU despite its completely different organizational structure.