US tariffs won’t backfire or alienate Asean, says Rubio

The Star

The slew of tariffs announced by the United States will not backfire nor will it alienate the Asean region, says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.   Rubio said this was because tariffs are being applied on a global scale and it is not focused on one specific region.   Read more at https://tinyurl.com/39mujhvv   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:02We had a great visit, great visits.

00:05This is an extraordinary forum.

00:08ASEAN is the primary way in which the United States engages in Southeast Asia diplomatically.

00:14The United States is a country that has deep ties in this region.

00:17We are a Pacific nation.

00:19We have U.S. citizens that live in the Pacific, obviously in Hawaii and in other territories.

00:23And we have strong relationships with many of our partner nation states here in the region.

00:29And that includes, for example, the United States is the single largest source of foreign

00:33direct investment.

00:35So we're very happy to have come here today.

00:36We're very warmly received, very positively received.

00:38We had very good meetings, some real deliverables, and new action items we'll be able to work

00:44on together in the years to come.

00:45Sir, a question on tariffs.

00:46Are you afraid that the tariffs will alienate ASEAN and backfire against the U.S.?

00:51No.

00:52I'm not concerned about that.

00:53It's not going to happen because these tariffs are being applied on a global scale.

00:56These are not aimed at one country or one region.

00:59It's all around the world.

01:00And it's very simple, okay?

01:01For 20 or 30 years, the United States has built up enormous trade deficits with multiple

01:06countries around the world in every region, in Europe, with Canada, with Mexico, and in

01:11this region as well.

01:12And that had to be addressed.

01:14And so that's what the president is doing.

01:15Now obviously those tariffs that he's announced will take effect on the 1st of August because

01:20markets need certainty.

01:22But there is always the possibility that before August 1st or at some point after August 1st,

01:27we will reach arrangements with individual countries that changes those numbers in a positive

01:32way.

01:33But that takes some time to work on.

01:35So that could happen.

01:36But by and large, this is not aimed at any one country.

01:39This is globalized.

01:40It applies to virtually every country in the world because the trade deficit the U.S. was

01:45running with too many countries is simply unsustainable.

01:48We had to address it.

01:49We had to address it.

01:50We have to address it.

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