Next week, on April 2, a round of “reciprocal tariffs” will be announced and put in place, and will likely have a more direct and negative impact on Asean members especially those countries with greater exposure to the US market, namely Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia (Singapore has an existing free trade agreement or FTA with the United States).
Rather than taking a more reactionary wait-and-see approach towards engaging Trump 2.0, Malaysia and Asean should take a more proactive approach in putting possible “deals” on the table for the consideration of President Trump, who sees himself as the ultimate dealmaker.
Since Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has already invited Russia President Vladimir Putin to come to Malaysia for the year-end Asean summit, why not offer to host a Trump-Putin summit in Kuala Lumpur at the same time?
Trump is no stranger to having high-profile summits in Southeast Asia. He met...