FTA with South Korea concluded, will continue to engage all countries
Speaking at a Bursa Malaysia Invest Malaysia fireside chat session, he said the move is part of the country's continuous engagement with global partners to gain broader market access, particularly amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.
"To date, we have 18 FTAs, both bilateral and multilateral. We've just signed two this year. We have resumed talks with the EU this year," he said during the session, which was moderated by Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Fad'l Mohamed.
The session was held as part of the Macquarie Asean Conference here.
When asked about Malaysia's engagement with BRICS, despite perceived threats from US President Donald Trump, Tengku Zafrul said it is important for Malaysia to remain consistent in its approach and to treat all countries equally.
"We are partners today. There are many other countries who are already members, and what's important is that all these countries are also members of other economic blocs. So this will continue," he said.
He also emphasised the importance of Malaysia maintaining a neutral stance.
"Malaysia can't afford to. I think Asean is also playing that card well where we engage all parties," he added.
Meanwhile, in his keynote address, Tengku Zafrul said that despite the current uncertainty, Asean's opportunity has not disappeared, but merely evolved.
He said the region's value proposition, rooted in trade openness, driven by structural reforms, and shaped by Asean's current leadership, reflects the very resilience the grouping has worked hard to build.
Tengku Zafrul also highlighted the challenges facing both Malaysia and Asean, especially in light of the proposed 100 per cent tariff on imported semiconductor chips and the issue of transhipments.
He said this is concerning, as the United States remains a core market for Malaysia's electrical and electronics (E&E) sector.
In 2024, Malaysia exported RM119.86 billion worth of E&E goods to the US, with semiconductors accounting for half of that value (RM60.6 billion).
"All these risks and numbers reflect why we are actively engaging with Washington to ensure sectoral carve-outs are clear and fair," he added.
On mitigating transhipment risks, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia is working closely with the industry to verify origin, enhance local value-add, and minimise accidental exposure.
"In parallel, we are also putting together a detailed supply chain mapping, diversifying markets, strengthening enforcement, and boosting local value-add in production," he added.
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To make matters worse, Trump had recently announced to the world that he had managed to force many world leaders to 'kiss his ass' to negotiate for a lower tariff on exports from their countries to the US. These countries most certainly include Malaysia, which negotiated hard to reduce the tariff from 25 per cent to 19 per cent, whilst there were zero tariffs imposed on almost all US products exported to Malaysia. In addition, Malaysia agreed to invest in the US and purchase more American products, including additional orders of Boeing aircraft valued at tens of billions of dollars. There are differences in opinion on whether this deal benefits the US more than Malaysia since the US is Malaysia's third most important export destination, after China and Singapore. Moreover, the sectors that are involved – electrical and electronic products, palm oil and rubber employ a substantial number of workers. However, it can also be argued that the US, especially its consumers, will lose more by the imposition of high tariffs on Malaysian exports. Therefore, an alternative strategy is to call Trump's bluff, which was China's strategy. That could have imposed more pressure on Trump since his priority is to remain popular among American voters. In any case, what was more concerning was the reticence of the PM on whether he had raised the issue of Palestine with Trump during their telephone conversation. If the PM did not use the opportunity to pressure Trump to stop sending weapons to Israel, then that is indeed very saddening. All this while, the PM has been so vocal in saying that the world must do something to stop the genocide in Gaza. He should have used the opportunity to make Trump realise that Malaysians can never tolerate a leader who continues to be the leading enabler of the killings of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian women and children. The whole world is now aware of what is happening in Gaza. Children are being deliberately shot by Israeli snipers, or blown to pieces by bombs and shredded into pieces of meat, either by being crushed by falling buildings or driven over by giant bulldozers. Now, Israel is deliberately making sure the Gazans will starve to death by blocking food from coming into Gaza. Hundreds are now dead due to starvation, and hundreds more are slowly dying of hunger, including babies. Based on the announcements made by Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, it is very clear that Israel plans to occupy Gaza completely and displace as many Palestinians as possible. Israel's ultimate plan at the end of the genocide is to carry out ethnic cleansing of the remaining Palestinian population, which is a crime under international law. Israel can do this with impunity because of the unwavering backing by the US. 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If you'd like your opinion shared on TRP, please send it via email at editorial@ with the title 'OPINION:' or through social media on TRP's Get more stories like this to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
