For most countries that received President Donald Trump’s letters last week threatening steep tariffs, especially the Asian nations with economies focused on supplying the United States, there are no obvious substitutes as a destination for their goods.

But they are doing their best to find them.

Business and political leaders around the world have been roundly baffled by the White House’s imposition of new duties, even as governments shuttled envoys back and forth to Washington offering new purchases and pledges of reform. Trump is erecting new trade barriers and demanding deep concessions by Aug. 1, claiming years of grievance because America buys more than it sells.

“Across the world, tools once used to generate growth are now wielded to pressure, isolate and contain,” Anwar Ibrahim, the prime minister of Malaysia, said at a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders Wednesday. “As we navigate external pressures, we need to fortify our foundations. Trade among ourselves. Invest more in one another.”

There are already signs of such efforts. South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, sent special envoys to Australia and Germany to discuss defense and trade issues. Brazil and India announced plans to increase their bilateral trade by 70%, to $20 billion.

Indonesia says it is nearing a treaty with the European Union that would drop most tariffs on both sides to zero. And in Vietnam, which Trump said had accepted 20% tariffs on its goods headed to the United States before last week’s letters, the deputy trade minister emphasized efforts to reduce her country’s reliance on American consumers by leveraging other trade agreements.

Previous shifts

There is plenty of precedent for countries to seek other partners when their long-standing relationships sour.

During Trump’s first term, China retaliated against U.S. tariffs by buying smaller amounts U.S. soybeans. Brazil filled the hole and now supplies most of China’s soybean demand, leaving American farmers with too much product and not enough buyers.

In 2017, China boycotted goods from South Korea in retaliation for its willingness to host an American antiballistic missile system, seriously damaging South Korea’s China-dependent consumer and tourism industries. In response, South Korea expanded trade and investment with Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Since Asian nations had already been working to diversify their customer bases, the current drive is not new. But the region is still far from seamlessly integrated. South Korea, for example, has resisted joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Byung-il Choi, a South Korean economist and former trade negotiator, has been urging his country to join that agreement, which Japan has signed. New hostility from Washington may finally make it possible.

“Japan and Korea believed that we are a staunch, ironclad ally of the U.S., but Donald Trump doesn’t believe in allies,” Choi said. “So Japan is anxious to get more significant members, and Korea’s incoming government is saying, ‘In the name of national interest, we could do anything.’”

No big moves yet

Ultimately, it could be advantageous for the countries that have become the targets of Trump’s tariff campaign to come up with a more collective response. So far, that hasn’t happened, as world leaders have continued to try to secure more favorable treatment for their own countries. Even the growing BRICS alliance, which drew Trump’s ire as it met in Rio de Janeiro and welcomed Indonesia as an official member, stopped short of taking any action to resist U.S. tariffs.