00:00The average tariff applied to us is called the simple average MFN applied rate is 5.6%.
00:20So that is where we are disputing that number.
00:25We have asked for our team to engage the US team.
00:31We have a team in MITI office in Washington.
00:34We also have our MITI office in Geneva.
00:39So they are already meeting their counterparts.
00:42But at the same time, we have officially written to USTR and to the Department of Commerce
00:48for myself to travel to the US to meet the representative from the US.
00:56And we hope that an engagement with the US will happen before the end of the month.
01:03But at the same time, it is important that we remain calm, that we continue to engage
01:09even from where we are here in Malaysia and our respective teams that are based in the US.
01:18Your question is regarding the coordinated response from ASEAN?
01:23Yes, coordinated response from ASEAN.
01:25That is on the 10th of April where we will be discussing the impact on ASEAN and also
01:32to see what are the areas in common that Malaysia and the rest are facing when it comes to the
01:41tariff decision by the US.
01:43As you know, countries in ASEAN all impose different level of tariffs.
01:50Some may argue that some got worse than others in terms of the tariff rates.
01:56So it is not easy to then agree on something unanimously.
02:02But there will be areas that we can agree on.
02:05And more importantly, we must also look at opportunities for ASEAN itself to work closer together.
02:12As I have mentioned in various platforms, the trade within ASEAN itself is very low,
02:18below 25%.
02:19So we need to look at how we can increase this and also look at trade between ASEAN
02:24and other economic blocs and other countries that have economic cooperation and collaboration
02:33with ASEAN.
02:34We will definitely, as I mentioned, apart from continuing our discussion with the various
02:39countries on bilateral agreements, we are also working with various economic blocs
02:44like EU on multilateral agreements like FTA with the EU.
02:48At the same time, in ASEAN as well, we are going to upgrade our ASEAN Trade and Goods
02:56Agreement.
02:57We are looking at the Digital Economic Framework Agreement.
02:59So all this has to be accelerated.
03:03Because you have to remember the trade with the US is around 18% for Malaysia.
03:09So we still have more than 80% trade with the rest of the world.
03:13Similarly for export, when you talk about E&E exports, we export about close to 30%
03:19of our E&E to the US, less than about 28%.
03:23And the rest of our E&E sector actually exports to the rest of the world.
03:27So it is important, as you correctly stated, to continue our engagement with our other
03:32trading partners through various platforms that we already have and creating new platforms
03:40to ensure a smoother collaboration when it comes to trade and investment.
