YOURSAY | ‘Hire a strong economist who can charter better strategic plans.’

Tariff on penguin 'country' shows US didn't analyse plan properly: PM

Oct: It is arrogant and stupid of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to publicly criticise US President Donald Trump for the tariffs.

In the end, it's about whose economy will be affected.

The US economy could take a bump and recover in time to come, but Malaysia is heading into a ravine with its economy.

Malaysia is not like China, the European Union, Canada or Mexico. Malaysia, as the head of Asean 2025, should show some courtesy.

Asean countries know that Anwar won't be able to have any dialogue with Trump. Anwar cannot even get Trump to talk to him over the phone whereas Vietnam can.

Malaysia doesn't have an ambassador to the US to lobby for Malaysia’s interests. This shows how bad our relationship with the US is.

Malaysia cannot solve its 3R problems and wants to take on US geopolitical issues. Just look at our stock market, which is taking a big hit and Anwar says Malaysia is unaffected by the new US tariffs.

More verbal diarrhoea will come. Anwar should keep quiet and work on deliverables that can insulate Malaysia's economy.

Be humble. Work silently hard. Surprise the Malaysians.

Hoyohoyo: Agreed. Bolehland needs a trading strategy to mitigate the 24 percent tariffs. A new world order has begun. The world we knew had changed with Trump.

Resolve the trade surplus with the US by importing more and dismantling those barriers. Including approved permits for car imports, sick government-linked companies and outdated monopolies of government-linked investment companies.

It is a trade war now. Stay focused on the trade imbalance and renegotiate with Trump.

YellowSinga3707: Anwar, you are not an economist to begin with, which explains why you are doing a lousy job as finance minister.

So, stop shaming yourself in public and on the international business scene.

Hire a strong economist who can charter better strategic plans to manage the tariff concern since it has a real impact on competitive industries.

Whatever happened to your mantra: " We always want a win-win situation by negotiating."

Walk the talk and stop whining and complaining.

Whenever you open your mouth to scold and blame other people, it leads to a tsunami effect like the temple issue.

Mcgreen: Please do what is necessary to ease the situation. Constructively engage the US. Address their concerns, some of which are quite straightforward. It also requires economic reforms, transparency and certainty in Malaysia’s economic policies.

Addressing US concerns will also benefit Malaysian businesses. Don’t worry about Penguin countries. None of our concerns.

Variant: Do something about it then, open up our market within the next six months. No more tariffs disguised at 10 percent import Sales and Service Tax.

No more non-tariff barriers. We are sick of subsidising inefficient rent-seeking local production.

We want more choices in automobiles, and we don't want to pay high prices for locally produced vehicles.

Stop taking people for a ride. We, the middle class, are sick of doing charity for everyone else. Free market now - no more tongkat tariffs.

MarioT: Anwar, it is each country's prerogative to set their tariffs. If it does not favour us, then find ways to negotiate a better deal.

Making fun of Trump’s tariffs only works against us as we depend more on the US than the US depends on us.

Use your skills to try to work towards a win-win solution.

For a Better World: The US National Debt in 2024 is US$35.5 Trillion.

Debt servicing is taking a large chunk annually for the country. If left unchecked, the country will soon go bankrupt.

So what's the problem if the US president wants to reduce it by imposing tariffs and preventing outflows of the US dollar?

The balance of payments is a crucial issue and now Trump wants to control it and wants the domestic production of goods and services as a step to control the outflow which increases the national debt.

Agreed there are other complex issues in this tackling of the "balance of payments".

He is encouraging more domestic manufacturing and an increase in employment for US citizens. Aren't these sound economic policies?

Beman: The US is returning to a policy of isolating itself from the world like it was before the early 1900s.

Maybe it should look to North Korea to learn more about how to isolate itself. Whether it works out for the US remains to be seen.

It is their right to do what they want, but they should not do so in a bullying manner, such as preventing others from teaming up (such as when Mexico and Canada tried to get together to resolve the tariff issues).

As for the rest of the world, the best that can be done is to quietly untangle itself from relying on the US for trade.

At the moment, the US may be the world's largest economy, but let's wait to see how long.

Norman Fernandez: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained that leaving even seemingly irrelevant regions (such as Heard and McDonald Islands) off the list could open the door for trade arbitrage, where goods from countries facing tariffs are rerouted through exempt territories to avoid penalties.

The US has closed all avenues for anyone trying to go around the tariff and take advantage of any loopholes.

KK Voter: However ridiculous Trump's justifications are, and however much Anwar vilifies him, the tariffs are real.

No matter what the world thinks of him, he is not going to back down.

If only Anwar had focused on reforms over the past two years the way Trump focused on his with no fear of ridicule and vilification.

Anwar and his nemesis, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, have something in common after all - he will spend the rest of his life justifying what he did while in power, and Anwar will spend the rest of his justifying what he promised but did not deliver.

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