A POLITICAL scientist said there must be unity within all political fronts in the country to focus on addressing the export tariffs imposed by the United States.
Prof Wong Chin Huat, who is the deputy head (strategy) of the Asia headquarters of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Solutions Network at Sunway University, said that as a small nation, Malaysia needs unity from all political fronts to face this challenge.
"Just like Covid-19, Trump's trade war needs national unity in the sense of consultative decision making on the part of the government and a truce on the part of the Opposition,” he said.
He said Trump's apparent flawed calculation of tariffs shows that he cares about only the trade deficit.
Any country that has a sizeable trade surplus against the US is slapped with a tariff above 10% including Cambodia and Lesotho, said Wong.
"To think this is really about fair trade, we are somewhat at fault, and we can resolve it with just lowering tariff is naive.
“That's why Vietnam's offer of 0% tariff on US is good, but it was still dismissed by Trump's trade advisor Pete Navarro," said Wong.
"As we are a small nation, retaliation may only be the last resort.
“The Madani Government's strategy of negotiating with the US in a low - profile way is a reasonable approach.
“But no matter how we try to please the US, and diversify our markets, our economy would be hit, not just by the tariffs but possibly also the global recession Trump triggers," said Wong.
He envisions that what Malaysia should do, is prepare a safety socio - economic net to support those who will get hurt by an economic downturn, from businesses to workers to retirees and students.
"Trump's economics may turn out to be more disastrous than Covid-19."
What would make it worse for Malaysia is every ethnic community would jealously compare the support they get with other communities and jump to the conclusion that they are shortchanged, he said.
"This denies the government the room for some necessary but tough policies."
Another political scientist Prof James Chin sees the looming trade crises, as an opportunity for Malaysia to reduce its own protectionism trade policies such as the overzealous care of the national car maker - Proton.
"We also have too much bureaucratic and special policies which hinder the import of US goods. It is not just US but imports. What Trump wants to see is more imports of US goods into the country," said Chin.
He said that on the domestic political front, there isn't much for political parties to do other than to help the country mitigate the costs of the tariffs on the economy.
Chin, who is the professor of Asean Studies at the University of Tasmania, said that his understanding of the tariffs, is that Trump simply wants to reduce the trade deficit between the world and US. – April 8, 2025
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