Like Anwar, Zafrul denied claims that the country imposed a 47 per cent tariff on US goods, saying that the actual average tariff applied to US imports into Malaysia is 5.6 per cent.
Besides the impact study focusing on key export sectors which Anwar announced earlier, Zafrul said that his Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry will also be establishing a Task Force on ‘Managing US Tariffs’ aimed at gathering feedback from key stakeholders, including representatives from the private sector.
The impact study will be submitted to the National Geoeconomic Command Centre chaired by Prime Minister Anwar while the task force seeks to minimise the impact of the US measures on Malaysia’s exports and investments, he said, as reported by Bernama.
“Tomorrow, MITI (the trade ministry) will be meeting representatives of industry chambers and export associations, as well as engaging with relevant ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, (central bank) Bank Negara Malaysia. Malaysia’s External Trade Development Corporation, Malaysian Investment Development Authority and the Department of Statistics Malaysia,” Zafrul said.
In addition to the virtual ASEAN meeting which he will be chairing on Thursday, Zafrul also mentioned that the regional leaders are scheduled to meet physically to discuss the member states’ way forward and to mitigate potential disruptions to regional trade, supply chain networks and cross-border investments.
Malaysia will also continue high-level strategic engagement with the US through leveraging the Malaysia-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, he said.
