[UPDATED] Rubio: US tariffs aim to rebalance global economic playing field

New Straits Times

2 days ago

KUALA LUMPUR: The tariffs imposed by the United States are part of a broader effort to rebalance its economy on a global scale, said its Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio said the move is consistent with President Donald Trump's long-standing belief that the global trade landscape has disadvantaged American workers and industries.
Rubio also said Southeast Asian countries are going to receive the letter regarding the tariffs at 'some point', but would receive 'better' tariff rates upon discussions.
"The President (Trump) has been clear, even before he was in politics, where he felt that the status of global trade was unfair to American workers and the economy.
"This is an effort to rebalance that on a global scale and when all is said and done, many countries in Southeast Asia are going to have tariff rates that are actually better than other countries in other parts of the world and could be beneficial (for them)," he said on the sidelines of the 58th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) today.
He said this when asked regarding the discussion held with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the tariffs this afternoon.
Commenting further, Rubio said that the door for Asian countries to discuss tariffs remains open.
"The door remains open to adjustments. In fact, agreements can be reached and we are actively engaging in conversations with multiple countries that are represented here (Asean) on ways to make even further progress.
"However, the markets demand certainty, hence, we need to let everyone know what the baseline is starting Aug 1. But these talks continue," he said, adding that there will be talks with Asean countries in the upcoming weeks.
Rubio said that the history of the 21st century will also be 'written' in the Indo-Pacific and Southeast Asia regions, where over 6,000 American companies have invested.
"These are important partnerships, both economic and defence cooperation partnerships that we are not going to abandon or walk away from.
"We are going to continue to build on, we think that is that important. If you look at the demographics of Southeast Asia, this is the youngest part of the world.
"You are about to see enormous growth in the labour pool and in workers. This is an exciting time, an extraordinary historic time.
"As such, we are excited about what economic cooperation is going to mean in this region and trade is going to be a key component of it," he said.
Earlier this week, Trump announced that a 25 per cent import duty on Malaysian goods would take effect from Aug 1. He justified the measure as a way to "protect domestic industries" from what he described as unfair trade practices by several countries.
On April 2, Trump announced the retaliatory tariffs, where Malaysia was among the affected countries hit with 24 per cent, although enforcement was deferred by 90 days to allow time for negotiations.