A Whirlwind of Handshakes and Headlines

AWANI

This week on #WooSays, Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Woo Wing Thye and Hafiz Marzukhi unpack U.S. President Donald Trump’s Asia tour and the series of treaties and trade deals that came with it.

Transcript

00:00This week on Wu says, we look at Trump's Asia tour and the treaty assigned.

00:05Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Wu Wingtai and Hafiz Marzouki delve deeper into the intricacies surrounding these agreements.

00:12Here's a segment from the conversation about the deal between Malaysia and the US.

00:18But the important thing to realise is, there are two dimensions to consider.

00:24When you agree to such a treaty that has such unfair language, the first question is, is this a permanent agreement to be bullied?

00:41Or is this something that you and I agree on, but you are in no position to enforce it?

00:49In other words, I agree to do the following, but if I don't do it, there's nothing you can do.

00:56So clearly we need the US market right now, because look at the number of semiconductor factories in Penang.

01:09In Penang, the chief buyer is the American market.

01:16So for the sake of these people, we can swallow our pride and do so and agree to it.

01:24But let's think of what happens in the long run.

01:28In the long run, we will begin to develop access to other markets and the US become less important.

01:36And when the US becomes less important, the US will be less willing to enforce whatever punishments it said that it was going to do.

01:48This is not unique to us.

01:50You can see it in the United States.

01:53The United States has come to a truce on the trade in rare earth with China.

02:01China has a chokehold on the supply of rare earth, and it's using it to its advantage in its acquisition with China.

02:11And what is the United States doing?

02:13One of the other treaties that the US has signed beside this trade treaties is an agreement on the development of rare earth exports

02:26from Malaysia and from Cambodia.

02:33So you could see that the US is trying to break the chokehold that China has.

02:42Catch the full conversation on Awani International and across our social media platforms.

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