Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz told a press conference after attending the Asean Semiconductor Summit 2025 on Thursday (July 24) that Malaysia is on track to reach a trade deal with the United States as the Aug 1 implementation date for the 25% tariff rate on Malaysian exports to the US draws near.
Zafrul said the Malaysian negotiating team is targeting a 20% or sub-20% rate at the end of the trade negotiations.
00:00It's progressing. There are discussions happening. In fact, this week alone, we are still in negotiation, so we are still on track to meet the deadline.
00:15And once we have agreed on the terms, I believe there will be an announcement on that. There should be an announcement on that.
00:30Can I just clarify, you said that a deal can be announced before the deadline?
00:36That is the target.
00:37Okay, if the deadline, will we get an extension eventually?
00:41I don't know. We all depend on the Trump administration.
00:46If you have time to meet those dates, it will be extended?
00:50No discussion on extension.
00:52There is still a negotiation. We will reveal it once the negotiation is completed.
01:11What are you looking at?
01:12I am looking at all areas where it will help us conclude the negotiations.
01:20Dr. Trey, Abdelpah also ran a story quoting sources within the government saying that Malaysia is 15-20% tariff with the trade negotiations.
01:31Could you maybe explain if that is the direction?
01:34No, there is not a direction.
01:36What is the direction?
01:38The direction is to get as low as possible.
01:40As low as possible for Malaysia, which we feel that is fair for what, in the negotiation, the target of 20% is definitely not a target.
01:54So what is the target?
01:55The target is to be lower than that.
01:58Lower than 20%.
01:59Lower than 20%.
02:0010% is the floor, as you know.
02:01Even you can understand, for Malaysia, where we are today, not just in terms of trade deficit, but also in terms of non-trade barriers.
02:10And you have seen some of the announcements, to be fair.
02:13Those announcements are made public.
02:16You have seen where Japan is at 15%.
02:18You know, you've seen updated news about negotiations between EU and US, also maybe at 15%, you've seen Indonesia at 19%, you've seen Vietnam at 20%, you've seen Philippines at 19%.
02:32So you will know roughly, you know, if you give certain consensions, what you get, right?
02:38If you give certain consensions, you give, you might get 20, 19, or a certain 15.
02:45Maybe you give it all, you get 10, because there's the floor.
02:47So this is something that we agree.
02:49But every country has different challenges when it comes to what we can offer, because we are not able to offer things we don't have, or things that we feel that may be detrimental to the Malaysian industry.
03:07So these are things that we need to look.
03:09But in balance, I think we can get to a number which we feel is fair for both parties.
