A letter from U.S. President Donald Trump announcing a 25% import tariff on all Malaysian goods, effective August 1, 2025, has gone viral — not only for its economic implications, but for what many Malaysians are calling a “formatting disaster.”
The letter, shared on X by user @Marchfoward, quickly gained traction as Malaysians began dissecting not just its content, but every exclamation mark, misalignment, and questionable sentence structure.
“Is this an official letter from the @WhiteHouse? Why isn’t the text justified? And what’s with all the exclamation marks? Is the ‘Thank you..’ meant to be him yelling?” — @iam_ein
Other users quickly joined in, turning the post into an unexpected roast session of the document’s lack of professionalism.
“To those who feel hopeless because you struggle with Word formatting and such — take heart, there are clearly people worse at it than you...” — @slayallthetime
“Aside from the 25% tariff, the letter’s format alone gives me a headache.” — @BuragasAnatomi
“What is this, Word 1996? No text alignment or justification at all.” — @RzKhai86
The commentary didn’t stop on Malaysian Twitter. Over on Reddit, users also questioned the tone and presentation of the letter.
“Honestly, sounds like a letter written by a high school kid for a writing assignment.” — lord_of_the_roach
“And they’d fail that assignment. Capital letters all over the place. Might as well have bolded and highlighted everything.” — Internally_me
The viral moment has since sparked broader conversations about diplomatic communication standards, especially during moments of international tension.
“I don’t know if I just don’t understand English, or if it’s genuinely abnormal for an official letter to have exclamation marks scattered everywhere,” commented @MBilalZA.
While the letter outlines significant trade measures that could impact Malaysia–U.S. economic ties, much of the public’s attention has been drawn to its flawed formatting, including inconsistent punctuation and misaligned text.
