Malaysian minister more hopeful after trade talks with US

SEOGWIPO, South Korea – Malaysia’s Trade Minister is more optimistic about achieving a deal with Washington to reduce tariffs, he said on May 15, after a meeting with his US counterpart.

Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of a two-day gathering of trade ministers from 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group.

It was his second meeting with Mr Greer since the South-east Asian country officially started negotiations with Washington two weeks ago.

“We’re moving in the right direction, and recently, we’ve also seen the de-escalation between the US and China over the weekend in Geneva, and before that there was an announcement as well with the UK and US,” Datuk Seri Zafrul told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Apec meeting on South Korea’s resort island of Jeju.

“So, we think, at the end of the day, if we can show a win-win solution for both countries, we should come to an amicable agreement,” he said.

He hoped, he added, to see “some sort of a conclusion” before the end of the 90-day pause US President Donald Trump announced in April.

Mr Zafrul declined to give details of his meeting with Mr Greer, citing Washington and Kuala Lumpur’s non-disclosure agreement, but he said the government would raise the issue of industries central to the economy, including aerospace and semiconductors.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said earlier in May that his country may be able to negotiate tariff reductions with the US, as Washington had agreed to further talks during preliminary discussions.

Among South-east Asian countries, Malaysia was hit with US tariffs of 24 per cent, higher than 17 per cent for the Philippines but lower than 32 per cent for Indonesia,