PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will deliver his remarks on the US tariff issue at the special Dewan Rakyat sitting, says Datuk Fahmi Fadzil.
The Communications Minister said the special sitting would be on May 5 and would begin at 11am.
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He said MPs from both sides would debate the issue after Anwar delivers his remarks.
Fahmi added that the ministers of the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) and the Finance Ministry would wind up the debates.
“The leader of the House will send out letters to MPs (on the special sitting) officially today,” said Fahmi, who is also the government’s spokesperson, during his weekly press conference here on Wednesday (April 23).
Miti Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan are currently in the United States to negotiate with Washington on the issue of retaliatory tariffs.
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Fahmi said both ministers were slated to meet with top officials from the US government on the tariffs.
“We cannot anticipate what will be announced. We have to wait for them to come back and report to the Cabinet.
“I hope we have some information by next week on the outcome of the visit,” he said.
Except for China, President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on the implementation of retaliatory tariffs, just hours after the tariffs against US trading partners came into effect on April 9.
Malaysia's exports to the United States were originally subjected to 24% retaliatory tariffs.
As negotiations continued, Trump said he was authorising a universal "lowered reciprocal tariff of 10%” against countries that have not retaliated.
However, on April 22, the United States announced new duties as high as 3,521% on solar imports from four South-East Asian countries, including Malaysia.
The duties are the result of a yearlong trade probe that found solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand were unfairly benefiting from government subsidies and selling exports to the United States at rates lower than the cost of production.
