SHAH ALAM: Malaysia has taken proactive steps in response to tariffs announced by the United States, including restarting trade talks, diversifying export markets and driving more regional trade.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (pic) said these measures were taken as Malaysia had anticipated potential tariff increases.
Malaysia, he said, had been diversifying its export markets in countries, such as Kenya, Oman, and Namibia since last year, achieving new records alongside Angola with a surge of 59.3%, followed by Ethiopia (56.4%), Egypt (53.6%) and Algeria (27.9%).
“The government is also actively engaging in free trade agreements with various countries. Earlier this year, we signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (MY-UAE CEPA).
“We have also resumed free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the European Union and South Korea last year.
“Another export market with significant potential is Asean as trade is still below 25%, and as the Asean Chair, one of Malaysia’s focuses is to increase trade among member countries,” he said in a video posted on Facebook on Saturday.
On April 2, US president Donald Trump announced a slew of tariffs on about 90 countries, including 24% on imports from Malaysia, effective this Wednesday.
This is on top of a baseline of 10% tariffs imposed on all imports from many countries, which the US started collecting on Saturday.
Trump also announced high reciprocal tariffs against China at 34%, the European Union at 20%, Vietnam at 46%, Sri Lanka at 44%, Cambodia at 49%, Laos at 48%, and Myanmar at 44%.
Malaysia’s economic strength, said Tengku Zafrul, is driven by domestic spending, which accounts for more than 60% of the economy.
The government, he added, had set up the National Geo-Economic Management Centre, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to devise a comprehensive strategy to address the issue.
“At the same time, we will continue negotiations with the US government to find a win-win solution for both parties.
“Rest assured, the government will always strive to ensure that the economic interests of Malaysia and its people are protected as best as possible,” he added.
In another post on Facebook, Tengku Zafrul (pic) said Miti had held various high-level meetings since the middle of last week to analyse the impact of the tariffs imposed by the United States.
“We have reviewed analyses from various parties, not only those under Miti but also from other agencies such as Khazanah and the Statistics Department.
“We also took into account views from industry players such as the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia,” he said.
