ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting opens in Malaysia as U.S. tariffs loom
發佈日期: 2025-07-09 19:58
TVB News
The annual meeting of Association of the Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers has opened in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as U.S. tariffs loom.
China's top diplomat Wang Yi is expected to join his counterparts from tomorrow for ASEAN and ASEAN-plus-three talks.
The 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting series kicked off at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre with an opening ceremony this morning.
Over 1,500 delegates from the 10-member bloc and its external partner countries are participating in high-level meetings spanning four days under the theme "Inclusivity and Sustainability."
The prime minister of ASEAN chair Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim said in an address that tariffs, export restrictions and investment barriers have become the "sharpened instruments of geopolitical rivalry," without directly referring to the U.S.
He described the current global landscape as one marked by the "unravelling of assumptions" where "power unsettles principle," urging member states to stay united and reinforce ASEAN centrality.
Anwar said: "This is no passing storm, it is a new weather of our time. ASEAN must confront this reality with clarity and conviction."
Anwar's remarks come at a time when the region grapples with uncertainty over Washington's latest trade policies.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump set new tariff rates of between 25 and 40 percent on six Southeast Asian nations - including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Myanmar that would go into effect from August 1st unless deals are made.
Some local merchants have been seeking ways to transfer their markets and expand exports to China and the Middle East.
Lei Zhixiong, Chairman of the Malaysia Entrepreneurs' Development Association, said that should the tariffs take effect, they would work to transfer 20 to 30 percent of orders for America to other markets, such as China, India and Mid-Eastern countries.
Lei declared the profit margin in exports for Malaysian manufacturing is not as high as 30 percent.
He stated in response to the hike, businesses will have to raise their prices to avoid incurring a loss, thus consumers will ultimately bear the burden.
Some Malaysian scholars think there's still room for trade negotiations.
Izlin Binti Ismail, Deputy Dean Research at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Malaya, said: "It's a negotiation strategy. He's just using this as a strategy to push things to expedite discussion, because trade negotiations usually take time. They take months, sometimes years, and President Trump does not have that time."
The professor further noted she'd rather see negotiations for small countries happen in a group than individually, because otherwise they would not have any bargaining power.
She expressed hopes ASEAN members could use the meeting to discuss ways to tackle the challenges posed by the tariff war in a collaborative manner.
