Malaysia will not cross “red lines” in U.S. tariff negotiations, minister says
Kuala Lumpur (Reuters) -malaysia said he would not exceed certain “red lines” in his negotiations with the United States.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz refused to receive detailed information about what these borders are, but said that the US made demands on national interests and sovereignty of Malaysia.
The demands included Malaysian domestic policies and laws in areas such as digital taxes, e-commerce, medical standards, halal certification and government supply.
“We do not want to reach an agreement to reach an agreement.” He said.
“If the agreement does not benefit Malaysia, we should not have an agreement … We must be solid in this regard.”
Tengku Zafru said that the Reuters in Singapore had no retaliation plan against the next Asian Summit against the United States and that there was no retaliation plan against the United States, and that the tariff was “still optimistic about reaching a trade agreement before 1 August.
The United States is the second largest trade partner in Malaysia after China and the best export target for semiconductors and electronic goods.
At a later press conference, he said he did not know why the US tariff in Malaysia was increased from 24% to 25% from 25%, but that the country was determined to balance trade with Washington and that he was sure that the extraordinary problems in the talks could be solved.
“If you ask me … As a result I leaned more than 50% (chance). But the timeline is the key,” he said, a reference to the date of application of August 1, a prolongation of the first date of July 9.
Tengku Zafrul said that Malaysia’s negotiation team is engaged in US colleagues on at least 25 separate occasions and committed to improve environmental and labor protections and promote digitalization and encourage them to encourage cross -border data flow.
Malaysia’s proposal to the United States, the state carrier Malaysia airlines for at least 30 new Boeing aircraft for the purchase of semiconductor and technology agreements, he added.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Mandy Leong;)
