US to seal Southeast Asian trade deals in coming months, trade representative says.
The US expects to finalise trade deals with more Southeast Asian countries in the coming months, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said during a meeting with regional counterparts on Wednesday.
Greer was speaking in Kuala Lumpur at the start of a meeting with economic ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), amid concerns within the export-reliant bloc over the impact of US tariffs on their economies.
Tariff rates have been set at 19% and 20% for most of the region. Laos and Myanmar have been hit with a 40% rate, while Singapore has a 10% tariff.
The US has said it had reached agreements with Indonesia and Vietnam on tariffs, though the countries say they are still finalising terms.
Vietnam, the world’s sixth-largest exporter to the US, risks losing US$25 billion (RM105.25 billion) annually as a result of the 20% tariff imposed on its goods, which would make it the worst-hit economy in the region, according to estimates released by the United Nations Development Programme.
In a joint statement dated on Tuesday, Asean economic ministers noted “adverse impact and uncertainty” arising from the tariff landscape and warned of slower regional trade performance in the second half of 2025, due to the front-loading of exports ahead of the tariffs’ imposition in the earlier part of the year.
US President Donald Trump said last month he would set a tariff of about 100% on semiconductors, but it would not apply to companies that are manufacturing in the US or have committed to do so.
Source: Theedgemalaysia