KUALA LUMPUR: A Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting will be convened to discuss the en bloc’s member states’ way forward and to address and mitigate potential disruptions to regional trade, supply chain networks, and cross-border investments in the face of rising geopolitical and economic challenges
In a statement after a special ASEAN Economic Ministers’ (AEM) meeting today, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the meeting is to ensure that ASEAN continues to be a stable, competitive, and attractive hub for global trade and investment.
The minister who chaired the virtual meeting today also said that the position stated in the AEM Joint Media Statement will be further presented at the Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting.
The meeting today was convened to discuss the impact of the recent Announcement of Reciprocal Tariffs by the United States (US) on April 2 and attended by the Economic Ministers of all ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste, and the ASEAN secretary-general.
However, it is to be noted that on April 9, US President Donald Trump announced that he had paused reciprocal tariffs for three months, except for China.
Hence, at the meeting today, the ministers agreed that the pause on reciprocal tariffs, while applying the baseline tariff of 10 per cent, provides a window of opportunity to find a pragmatic and mutually advantageous solution for ASEAN in a strategic and tactful manner.
Tengku Zafrul said ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste unanimously refute the basis used in calculations by the US and agreed that the reciprocal tariffs by the US — ranging from 10 per cent to 49 per cent — will have a profound impact on ASEAN’s economic growth and development trajectories.
“These tariffs will be regressive to ASEAN’s regional economic integration efforts built on a rules-based system since its establishment in 1967,” he said, adding that the bloc, however, was united in the opinion that retaliation is not an option.
“The Special AEM also underscored the importance of maintaining constructive, non-retaliatory, and forward-looking engagements with the US to address the emerging challenges while continuing to enhance ASEAN and US economic relations based on mutual interests and shared priorities,” he said.
He said the Special AEM reflected on the recent statement made by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general, who cautioned that escalating trade tensions between the US and China pose a significant risk, and that division of the two main blocs of global economy could lead to a long-term reduction in global real gross domestic product by nearly 7 per cent.
In reaffirming ASEAN’s commitment to open and inclusive economic cooperation, the ministers stressed the region’s support for a predictable, transparent, non-discriminatory, free, fair, inclusive, sustainable, and rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core.
In principle, the Special AEM also agreed on the establishment of the ASEAN Geoeconomic Task Force, which will serve as a platform involving experts, for ASEAN to discuss and formulate a coherent forward-looking regional policy response to emerging economic and geopolitical challenges by identifying key risks and opportunities to strengthen the region’s strategic positioning, resilience, and relevance in an increasingly complex global landscape.
