Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan says Malaysia is negotiating the terms of a tariff MoU with the US, with talks led by the investment ministry.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is currently negotiating the specific terms of a memorandum of understanding related to United States tariffs.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the negotiations are being conducted by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry.
“We signed the MoU, but we have not negotiated the specific terms. Once the terms have been harmonised, we will ratify the agreement,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
He was responding to a question on Malaysia’s steps following the US implementation of tariffs.
Mohamad stated that Malaysia will negotiate directly with the US, as certain matters require detailed analysis.
In a separate reply, he discussed US interest in forming a global bloc for critical minerals.
He noted the US has identified over 60 minerals as critical and has fallen behind another country technologically.
“The US has suddenly realised that they need critical minerals for the latest technology, so they want to form an alliance, create stockpiles of critical minerals, and they have proposed this to us,” he said.
Mohamad said Malaysia has taken note of the proposal but emphasised minerals fall under state authority.
He added that Malaysia no longer permits the export of raw minerals, insisting on domestic processing to add value.
