COMMENT | Shameless bowing to Trump tariff pressure

COMMENT | Malaysia’s shameless succumbing to US President Donald Trump’s unwarranted pressure over tariffs involves more than lopsided trade conditions.

It is also a servile surrender of sovereign rights, and that comes with other restrictions too.

Although called a reciprocal arrangement, it is badly one-sided - a long list of Malaysian “shoulds” in return for what appears to be a unilateral imposition by the US of a 19 percent tariff without any relent.

In addition, Malaysia makes a slew of concessions, including an ironclad agreement to purchase hundreds of billions of ringgit of US goods through its multinational corporations.

The only obligation that the US seems to have is to reduce the duty on applicable goods to 19 percent from 24 percent in April, both of which were unilaterally imposed by the US, eschewing the aegis of any recognised international trade regulation body.