Tengku Zafrul: Boeing jet deal a strategic move, not a waste of public funds
The Investment, Trade and Industry Minister explained that the purchase decision had been announced as early as March this year, prior to United States (US) President Donald Trump's announcement of any new import tariff on goods.
'So what does this purchase have to do with tariff negotiations?
'The US imposed the tariffs partly due to the trade deficit. This means we sold more goods to the US than we bought from the country, so the US sought to reduce this deficit by imposing high tariffs of 25 per cent,' he said in a post on his official X social media account yesterday.
Hence, Tengku Zafrul said, Malaysia took the opportunity by listing all big-ticket purchases planned by Malaysian companies from the US, including the Boeing aircraft order.
'We are not making the purchase just to reduce tariffs,' he stressed.
According to him, this demonstrated to the US that Malaysia is also a major buyer of its products, thus finally convincing the US to lower import tariffs on Malaysian goods from 25 per cent to 19 per cent.
'This smart strategy is the result of careful negotiations, ensuring that the interests of both companies and the country are protected,' he added.
In March this year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that MAG had placed a firm order for 30 Boeing 737 aircraft, scheduled for delivery by 2030. — Bernama
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