ASEAN Leaders To Head To Washington, Negotiate As A Single Bloc And Voice -- Tengku Zafrul

KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, as the ASEAN chair this year, has requested, through its Foreign  Ministry, a special United States (US)-ASEAN summit to discuss the tariff issue.

Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz also confirmed that all ASEAN leaders have agreed to go to the US to meet up with President Donald Trump during the summit.

“And I was made to understand from the ASEAN secretariat, now we are waiting for the US to revert with the time,” he said during his interview with CNBC this morning.

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The minister reiterated that ASEAN does not believe in any retaliatory tariff actions, and the Southeast Asia trading bloc wants to continue to engage Washington.

For Malaysia, Tengku Zafrul said the country was taking both bilateral and multilateral approaches.

“We also agree that the rule-based multilateral trading system is the way to go for Malaysia. We have our officers in Washington, our ministry, as well as our embassy, engaging (with the US),” he said.

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“Of course, our foreign minister has also been engaging with the US secretary of state,” he said, adding that Malaysia’s average applied tariff rate to the US is 5.6 per cent.

Tengku Zafrul added that Putrajaya welcomed the reprieve from the pause in reciprocal tariffs by the US as this gives an opportunity to engage and negotiate.

In a joint statement issued after a special ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting on Thursday, the ministers said the grouping remains committed to safeguarding ASEAN’s economic interests as well as maintaining strong and mutually beneficial trade relations with the US. 

The virtual meeting was chaired by Tengku Zafrul.

The ministers also said they were ready to work together with the US under the ASEAN-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and Expanded Economic Engagement (E3) Workplan to explore mutually acceptable solutions on issues of common interest. 

These include facilitating two-way trade and investment, deepening strategic trade partnerships, and enhancing supply chain connectivity and resilience through digital technology and innovation that can promote stronger regional cooperation. 

“ASEAN believes that an enhanced, robust and forward-looking ASEAN-US economic cooperation framework will contribute to the prosperity of our people and the broader global economy,” they said.

-- BERNAMA