Worth bending knees to 'Emperor' Trump?

Malaysiakini

08-07-2025

YOURSAY | 'Nearly every country has been threatened by him.'
Trump sends letter to PM, Agong, imposes 25pct tariff on all M'sian products
Milshah: First of all, this policy has not been implemented yet. It is a tactic to force countries to make deals for the United States until the new deadline Aug 1 is up.
Whether it will be implemented or not is another story. With US President Donald Trump, things change like changing people, and changing clothes. There is no certainty.
Remember, those deals cost an arm and a leg for the countries involved. Trump wants full access to the countries' market, while at the same time, not allowing countries access to the US market.
Is it worth it? Is it worth bending the knee to 'Emperor' Trump? Typical bullying tactic.
On top of that, if countries were to increase their own tariffs, the US tariffs would go even higher.
It goes back to the basic question: does the US need the countries more than the countries need the US? How should Malaysia respond?
I am not in favour of Malaysia increasing tariffs on its own. Any increase will affect our imports; they will be more expensive. This will hit the rakyat, who are already burdened with the high cost of living.
However, I am in favour of 'Buy US last'. Malaysia should as much as possible reduce or not buy from US companies. Government procurements, such as military aircraft and equipment, should put US companies last. This should be the unwritten rule.
The issue now is Malaysia's exports and not Malaysia's imports. Malaysia simply needs to increase their exports to other countries. More can be done through China, Japan, South Korea, Asean, Brics, EU, Middle East nations, Africa, and so on.
We have to accept the fact that the US is now an expensive country to trade with. We must stop being addicted to the US market and go for greater cooperation with other countries.
OrangeMouse9413: Do you think Trump cares about anything we have to do or say, save for caving in and bending our knees like a colonised country to the coloniser?
Perhaps the majority of Malaysiakini commenters need to get their heads out of the usual standard condemn Malaysia mentality and see that nearly every country in the world has been threatened by Trump.
But if you want to continue viewing the issue myopically, then please do not let me stop you from your enjoyment.
GrayEagle1207: If only current and past Malaysian governments had focused on developing the local economy, education, medical care and trained high-skilled workers.
If only we had instilled fair trade policies, increased equal opportunities for the local populace, curbed wasteful spending, reduced cabinet size, curbed corruption, nepotism and cronyism, and wasteful government offices.
If we do all that, I am pretty sure Malaysia will be a viable trade partner and will have the skills to negotiate better with its partners.
As of now, Malaysian politicians, government officials and political influential persons have stolen billions in taxpayer funds for self interest, spent taxpayer monies on failed military equipment, projects, taxing the people even more, justifying wasteful spending, spending time and resources on foreign disputes, sidelining local talents, the list goes on.
America, China and the Middle East countries may be bullies on a global scale, but Malaysia is bullying its own people.
Oct: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is useless in getting any reduction after all the self trumpeting that Malaysia had two rounds of trade negotiation in US, with our Malaysian delegation contingent comprising the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and senior officers.
They were a waste of money and resources, as the result shows Malaysia is worse off than the initial proposal. In short, it was a holiday trip for the delegation.
By right, Anwar should have called Trump directly to negotiate with him via the phone. Unfortunately, nobody in the US government wants to talk with him.
This is a high-profile incident as the tariff affects Malaysian products exported to US. When Malaysia needs Anwar to resolve national interests, he is not around.
Anwar prefers to jet around to give lectures, show solidarity support for a foreign country and wants the limelight for fame and glory at the expense of Malaysia's trade and economy.
Just look at the Vietnam PM who called up Trump and managed to get a big reduction in tariffs without even having to send a delegation to the US.
This is what a good statesman who loves his country is made of. Anwar is a big disappointment to Malaysia in managing international matters, as it seems nobody listens to rhetorical support for a foreign country.
Where in the world does one see a PM who keeps shouting about a foreign crisis when Anwar cannot resolve any of his country's crises? Time to get Anwar out.
US tariffs: Opposition hits out, jibes minister's White House run
TheAxman: This is nothing but Trump's chaotic management. He was under pressure to do 90 deals in 90 days, but as he ran out of time, he simply decided to copy and paste a number of letters to a number of countries, thus resulting in an arbitrary 25 percent.
One can say that Zafrul was ineffective. I just saw it all as a futile exercise in the first place, as Trump's deadline was ridiculous and he was always going to be unpredictable.
GanMu: Why should the president of the US meet or entertain the Malaysian delegation when it was headed by a minister?
PM should have been the one to lead the delegation as head of the government. Unfortunately for Malaysia, he is far too busy gallivanting all over the world promoting his religion and visiting mosques under the guise of bringing in investments.
Why did he not meet President Trump when the Singapore PM met him? He owes us an answer.
PM's shortcomings have become good brownie points for the opposition.
Pink: Zafrul's lackadaisical attitude in the negotiation process is disappointing. All that we got from the negotiation is to pay an extra one percent tariff after paying expensive flight and hotel bills for his large entourage.
It reminds me of my silly classmate who went to see my maths teacher for an extra mark in a test, but got his mark reduced instead.
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