KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is expected to send its officials to the United States to discuss the tariff issue by the end of April, says Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan (pic).
“We will go to the United States to discuss in the right way to have a better understanding and to find a better outcome,” the Finance Minister II told reporters on the sidelines of the Asean Investment Conference here on Tuesday (April 8).
“Don’t panic, we will do it the right way,” he said.
“The key is to work through and understand how you want to position the story of Malaysia. There are a lot of 'no regret' moves that we were doing,” he added.
He said Malaysia should continue to explore and diversify trade, while stressing the need for stronger cooperation within Asean while looking for new trading partners and strengthening ties with existing ones.
“Sometimes you need a trigger and this is a trigger,” he said.
He said while Asean members have been slapped with different tariff rates and each have a different level of development, the common fundamental that binds the bloc together is the acceptance of free trade.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim earlier said Malaysia, like its Asean colleagues, would send officials to the United States to begin a dialogue on the tariff issue.
US President Donald Trump announced retaliatory tariffs against several countries on April 3.
The 24% tariff on Malaysian goods entering the United States will begin on Wednesday (April 9).
This is part of a broad trade policy targeting countries that have large trade deficits with the United States.
It does not, however, cover all Malaysian goods exported to the United States.
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