Uncertainty surrounds the signing of this week’s trade deals amid the failure to secure reciprocity from the US to cut tariffs
On Donald Trump’s whirlwind tour of Asia – which involved stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea – the US president triumphantly collected new trade deals from countries hoping for a reduction in the tariffs he slapped on them earlier this year.
However – China aside – analysts were left asking just how much Asian nations got out of it.
Trump’s first stop in Asia was Kuala Lumpur, where he held meetings with world leaders that resulted in trade pacts with Malaysia, Brazil, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, among others. The Malaysian capital was hosting the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The 11 member nations collectively export more to the US than China, making them an important trading partner and also highly vulnerable to Trump’s tariff regime.
The US president secured pledges from Vietnam to dramatically boost its US purchases, and signed deals with Malaysia and Thailand on a framework to diversify critical minerals supply chains.
