The US joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is unlikely to happen immediately, given resistance to trade deals within Biden’s own party. But there are some basic steps Biden can take to put the US back on an equal footing in the region. Professor Tan See Seng from RSIS said: “For starters, Biden will do well just to show up regularly at the Asean meetings, which Obama wasn’t able to do due to his inability to avoid the fiscal cliff in the US, and which Trump refused to do, preferring instead to send [Vice-President Mike] Pence.”