Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday issued a rallying cry to Southeast Asian nations to ride out the challenge posed by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs by invoking their shared history.
Washington has imposed the highest tariffs in the region on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, with rates of 49 per cent, 48 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively. Malaysia faces a 24 per cent tariff from the US, one of the Southeast Asian country’s largest trading partners.
Speaking at the launch of the Asean Investment Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar, the chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for 2025, urged the 10-nation bloc to remember it had experienced sterner challenges over its 57 years of history.
“The Trump tariffs are not the first challenge to multilateralism, nor will they be the last,” Anwar said, calling on the bloc to “hold its nerve” and maintain the spirit of pragmatism and cohesion as “the last believers in a world that works better when it works together”.
In 2023, Asean’s trade with the US totalled US$396 billion, accounting for 11.2 per cent of its global trade.
Asean is the fourth-largest exporter of goods to the US after Canada, Mexico and China. The world’s largest economy is also the second-largest trading partner for Asean.
