The author believes that the unity of ASEAN will depend on the extent to which the member countries of the Association will be able to balance the influence exerted on them by the two most powerful non-regional actors, the United States and China, in the economic sphere. In this regard, the article provides an assessment of the scale and state of the economic relations of the countries of the region with the United States and China over a fairly representative period in order to avoid the influence of certain years fluctuations in the state of mutual foreign trade and investment transactions of the partners. Such an analysis, according to the author, is necessary to understand the development of these ties in the current, very turbulent period that began with the coming to power in the United States of Donald Trump.