Summary
Decoupling of Asia from the rest of the world, and most importantly, the United States was always more a hope than a reality. I've been working with detailed trade flow data for Asia and the rest of the world for years and could easily see that much of what is traded within Asia is used as intermediate inputs in finished products shipped to the United States and Europe. Asia's economy is linked to the rest of the world because it is overly dependent upon trade with most of that trade with the United STates. One interesting statistic is that in 2006 the United States trade deficit equaled 3.5% of the GDP of all other countries except the United States. In terms of GDP associated with traded products the US deficit share equaled almost 7%. If Asia could decouple, then it must wean itself from dependence upon exports as the major driver in their economies.
Analysis
see above
