Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz will be heading to the United States soon for negotiations on the US tariff issue.
Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the Asean Investment Conference in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (April 8), Tengku Zafrul said the ministry’s arm in the U.S. has already begun work and that any negotiations must ensure that national interest comes first.
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Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the Asean Investment Conference in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (April 8), Tengku Zafrul said the ministry’s arm in the U.S. has already begun work and that any negotiations must ensure that national interest comes first.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/4exe8zpp
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
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NewsTranscript
00:00What are the things that you will be discussing this Thursday with the ASEAN people?
00:06Oh yes, yes. Thank you for reminding me.
00:09So on Thursday morning, there will be a meeting with all the ASEAN member states.
00:18All have confirmed to be present.
00:21There will be a meeting where we will discuss matters pertaining directly on the announcement bit
00:29by Trump on the 2nd of April.
00:32What we are planning to do is the discussions and whatever decisions and recommendations
00:37that we will all agree, it has to be consensus in the spirit of ASEAN centrality
00:42and we will bring it up to the ASEAN leaders for them to discuss and adopt and come up with a statement.
00:49So areas that we are going to touch upon is one is on issues relating to the tariff,
00:56whether we are in agreement that the tariff that has been imposed to ASEAN member states
01:03are tariff that are seen as not fairly reflective of what is meant by reciprocal tariff.
01:10So that definitely would be one of the discussions whether we think it's fair or not.
01:15Secondly, we will also touch upon how ASEAN as an economic bloc can look at strengthening trade within ASEAN, investment within ASEAN.
01:25As we know, the trade within ASEAN is now less than 25%.
01:28We are going to make sure that during our Championship of ASEAN, we try and conclude the upgrade of ASEAN FTA,
01:37the conclusion of Digital Economic Framework Agreement for example.
01:41And finally, ASEAN with our partners, we have 11 partners, dialogue partners,
01:46we need to look at how we can strengthen those partnerships as well.
01:51It's important that we find as much areas or issues that are of common interest when it comes to our approach with other groups,
02:03be it United States or China or India or even EU or other economic blocs.
02:08What would be our discussions with President Xi Jinping in the upcoming visit to Malaysia?
02:15Yeah.
02:16We obviously, on our side, what is important to us is to continue to come up with ideas and recommendations that can increase the trade and investment between Malaysia and China.
02:30For example, China is our largest trading partner for many, many years.
02:35And investment is going to be a key area of interest of Chinese companies into the region including Malaysia.
02:43So, we are in the midst of discussion with my counterpart.
02:49In fact, tomorrow I will be talking to my counterpart from China, the Minister of Commerce from China, to discuss a few of the things that we can work together.
02:58So, you have to wait until the two leaders meet soon.
03:03Maybe, maybe, when we talk about ASEAN, talking to the US as a bloc, individual countries are also approaching the US.
03:11So, how can this be seamless in that sense? How do we see this?
03:16So, in areas of common interest, I think it's good if ASEAN can talk as a bloc.
03:21You know, we are, as I said, as a bloc, we are quite sizable with GDP of close to US$3.8 trillion.
03:28We are the fifth largest economic bloc and growing, right?
03:31So, but in areas, obviously, as you know, there are not all areas that are of common interest.
03:37As it is, we know that, for example, the tariff imposition that has been imposed on countries of ASEAN, ASEAN member states are different.
03:48Some are 10%, some are 24%, some are even higher than that.
03:52So, we need to look at how we can work together.
03:57But at the same time, we must understand that each country will have their challenges as well.
04:02Because each country is at a different level of economic development as well.
04:05If you look at the trade deficit of different countries in ASEAN are due to different reasons, right?
04:12But what's important is, we all must stick together on the principles.
04:16I think ASEAN must continue to fight on the belief that free trade, the principle of multilateralism,
04:23are principles that have brought ASEAN to where it is today, and has already brought economic growth,
04:29but has also given the region a stable and prosperous region.
04:37One more, Dr. Sri.
04:38Yes, please, please.
04:39Okay, Trump ugut China nak menaikkan tariff 50%,
04:42sekiranya China mengekalkan tariff 34%,
04:44so, what is the essence of that and how does President Trump see that?
04:50It is important that in ASEAN, we are going to talk about this.
04:55But the position of Malaysia, as it is known by the government,
04:59is that we must remain calm and also, during the same time, engage,
05:04and understand the issues that we have not had for Malaysia.
05:11And what we don't want to see is an escalation,
05:15because trade war is not going to be a benefit to anyone.
05:19That's our opinion.
05:21And we will continue our communication.
05:24And, as was mentioned by the Nama Mahmoud and Menteri Pagi,
05:28our members of Washington have been working there.
05:33We have a meeting in Washington and also a meeting in WTO.
05:36And I, insyaAllah, in this time,
05:38I will also go to the United States to start the running.
05:42But, during the same time,
05:44the running must ensure that our national interest comes first.
05:53Thank you, thank you.