Malaysia to remain competitive among Asean peers amid potential US tariff
In a note today, MIDF said Asean peers such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam — also BRICS partner countries — could face even higher combined tariff rates of 42 per cent, 46 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.
The new tariff, if implemented, could raise Malaysia's total tariff rate to 35 per cent, up from the current 25 per cent.
"For Malaysia, a BRICS partner, the implication of this latest threat is speculative; after the negotiation, if Malaysia were to fall under the 10 per cent blanket tariff, this additional BRICS-related tariff could potentially raise its total tariff rate to 20 per cent.
"However, at this juncture, this post is widely perceived as a threat rather than an imminent policy," MIDF said.
US President Donald Trump, in a recent post on Truth Social, imposed an additional 10 per cent tariff on countries "aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS." He did not clarify what constitutes such an alignment.
MIDF said the move may signal the US is still open to negotiations.
"In Malaysia's case, the slightly higher tariff indicates that in the event Malaysia is unable to agree, that additional 10 per cent tariff will be enacted," it added.
— BERNAMA
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
8 minutes ago
- The Star
Oracle said to advance Indonesia cloud services plan
JAKARTA: Oracle Corp will partner with DayOne Data Centers Singapore Pte to establish its first cloud services centre in Indonesia, people familiar with the matter say, boosting its partnership with a key regional operator that counts TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd as its largest customer. The American tech giant will lease DayOne's data centres located at Nongsa Digital Park on the Indonesian island of Batam, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing information that's private. Oracle will be the sole tenant at DayOne plots that could support facilities with at least 120MW of power, they said. A 120MW data centre typically requires a capital investment of at least US$1.2bil, depending on factors like location, design tier and land costs, and whether the facility is built for hyperscale artificial intelligence workloads. Oracle's expansion confirms an earlier Bloomberg News story that it was in discussions to establish a cloud services centre in Indonesia. Representatives for Texas-based Oracle didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Singapore-headquartered DayOne earlier this year was spun out of Chinese data centre operator GDS Holdings Ltd, which retains a stake. ByteDance is far and away DayOne's largest customer, according to research firm SemiAnalysis, with Oracle coming in second. DayOne also didn't respond to a request for comment. — Bloomberg
The Star
8 minutes ago
- The Star
Survey shows agri-food sector of France is worst hit by Trump tariffs
A farmer drives a tractor in Blecourt, France. — PASCAL ROSSIGNOL/Reuters Paris: France's agri-food industry is the sector hardest hit by the upheaval from US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs, a survey by the country's central bank shows. Business leaders in the agriculture and food processing sectors reported an average 2.6% negative impact on activity in their businesses from both the direct and indirect effects of levies, including uncertainty, possible retaliation and cheaper Chinese imports. French industries face high uncertainty in the coming weeks as the European Union (EU) has until Aug 1 to clinch a preliminary trade deal that would lock in a 10% across-the-board tariff while negotiators try to hammer out a permanent agreement. Without an accord, rates on nearly all EU exports to the US will jump to 50%. Officials from the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, are also trying to win concessions for particular sectors as part of a possible agreement. 'The policies of the Trump administration are of course disrupting the global economy, and incidentally Europe will have to reach a trade agreement with the United States,' Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on RMC radio. 'But there are lots of things that depend on us Europeans and French people for our economic growth,' he added. The central bank said its monthly survey of 8,500 businesses confirmed the economy is set to grow about 0.1% in the second quarter, failing to accelerate from the weak pace set at the start of this year year. In addition to the volatile trade outlook, French businesses are reckoning with domestic political unpredictability as a minority government attempts to push through another round of spending cuts and tax increases. While activity picked up last month in industry and services, that followed a slow month in May when several public holidays disrupted output. Still, Villeroy said the Bank of France was maintaining its outlook for the whole of this year. 'We see slow but positive growth,' he said last Thursday. 'We are sticking with our 0.6% forecast – it's not enough in the long-term, and we need to take measures to strengthen the French and European economy.' — Bloomberg
New Straits Times
18 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Euro eases after Trump threatens 30pct tariffs on EU
SINGAPORE: The euro fell to a three-week low on Monday while the Mexican peso also came under pressure after President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 30 per cent tariff on imports from two of the largest US trading partners beginning Aug 1. Trump on Saturday announced the latest tariffs in separate letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that were posted on his Truth Social media site. Both the European Union and Mexico described the tariffs as unfair and disruptive, while the EU said it would extend its suspension of countermeasures to US tariffs until early August and continue to press for a negotiated settlement. Reaction in the currency market to Trump's latest tariff threats was largely muted in the early Asian session, though the euro did slip to a roughly three-week low and last traded 0.15 per cent lower at US$1.1675. Against the Mexican peso, the dollar rose 0.2 per cent to 18.6630. Elsewhere, however, the dollar made limited gains, with sterling down just 0.04 per cent to US$1.3485, while the Japanese yen rose one per cent to 147.27 per dollar. Investors have grown increasingly desensitised to Trump's slew of tariff threats, with his latest upheaval in the global trade landscape doing little to prevent US stocks from scaling record highs and offering just a slight boost to the dollar. "It is hard to say whether the muted market response over the week is best characterised by resilience or complacency," said Taylor Nugent, senior economist at National Australia Bank. "But it is difficult to price the array of headlines purportedly defining where tariffs will sit from August 1 when negotiations are ongoing and the key substantive development recently is that the earlier July 9 reciprocal tariff deadline came and went without an increase in tariff rates." In other currencies, the Australian dollar ticked up 0.02 per cent to US$0.6575, while the New Zealand dollar fell 0.07 per cent to US$0.6004. Outside of tariff news, Trump on Sunday said that it would be a great thing if Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stepped down, again threatening to undermine the central bank's independence as he calls for interest rates to be lowered. Traders could get a better clue on the future path for US rates when inflation data for June comes due on Tuesday, where expectations are for US consumer prices to have picked up slightly last month. Markets are currently pricing in just over 50 basis points worth of Fed easing by December. Also on investors' radars will be the release of Chinese gross domestic product figures similarly out on Tuesday. The world's second-largest economy is expected to have slowed down in the second quarter from a solid start to the year as trade tensions with the United States added to deflationary pressures.
