KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Mac -- Menteri Pelaburan, Perdagangan dan Industri, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz menyampaikan ucapan pada Majlis Pelepasan ASEAN Unity Drive 2025 (AUD 2025) di Menara MITI hari ini. --fotoBERNAMA (2025) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia, as the Asean chair this year, has requested a special United States-Asean summit to discuss the tariff issue.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz (pic) confirmed that all Asean leaders have agreed to go to the United States to meet up with President Donald Trump during the summit.
“I was made to understand from the Asean secretariat that we are now waiting for the United States to reply with the date,” he said in an interview with CNBC yesterday, Bernama reported.
The minister reiterated that Asean does not believe in any retaliatory tariff actions, and stressed that the South-East Asia trading bloc wants to continue engaging with Washington.
For Malaysia, Tengku Zafrul said the country is taking both bilateral and multilateral approaches.
“We also agree that a rules-based multilateral trading system is the way forward for Malaysia.
“We have our officers in Washington – from our ministry as well as our embassy – engaging with the United States.
“Of course, our foreign minister has also been engaging with the US Secretary of State,” he added, noting that Malaysia’s average applied tariff rate to the United States is 5.6%.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia has proactively engaged with US authorities and companies, proposing a technology safeguard agreement to reassure stakeholders and ensure continued supply chain stability.
He said Malaysia’s willingness to explore such an agreement would provide reassurance to both the US government and American companies.
“One thing you have to bear in mind is that many companies operating in Malaysia and exporting to the United States are also US companies.
“So, we are working closely with the US companies that will be affected if semiconductors are also included in the list of tariffs to be imposed,” he said.
He highlighted that 30% of Malaysia’s exports to the United States are semiconductors, while another 30% are electrical and electronic (E&E) products.
When asked whether the broader global tariff environment could impact Malaysia’s Industrial Master Plan, Tengku Zafrul acknowledged the potential downside.
“We are studying the impact because Malaysia is very much an open economy. As I said, we are a major exporter of semiconductors and E&E products.
“Therefore, based on our calculations, there will be a negative impact. Not just because of tariffs in the United States, but also due to tariffs on China, as many US and multinational companies, including Malaysian firms involved in the supply chain, will be affected by a global economic slowdown.
“These companies export not just to the United States,” he said.
On the feasibility of a US-China technology decoupling – particularly in artificial intelligence and chip manufacturing – Tengku Zafrul cautioned that such a bifurcation would inevitably drive up costs and disrupt supply chains.
“We’ve already seen this happening over the past couple of years. But the problem is that costs will rise, and we’ve observed this trend.
“With tariffs imposed on China and the rest of the world, I think costs will go up further, which will affect demand and, consequently, supply as well,” he said.
