28/07/2025

MONDAY | JULY 28, 2025

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Strengthening Malaysia’s trade position T HE 25% US tariff on Malaysian exports set to take effect on Aug 1 is the result of a unilateral US COMMENT by Yap Wen Min

Notably, the 25% tariff is set to test the resilience of Malaysia’s high-impact export sectors and the communities that depend on them. Is there a way out? With the clock ticking, the pressing question is whether Malaysia can negotiate its way to a more favourable outcome. The precedent set by Vietnam, Indonesia and others suggests it is possible to improve on the default tariff rate but it will likely require Malaysia to address US concerns head-on and possibly make difficult concessions. One avenue is pursuing sectorial exemptions or exclusions for critical industries. Notably, the US tariffs are not entirely inflexible and we have already seen that certain products have been carved out for practical reasons. For instance, Malaysia’s highly crucial semiconductor exports are currently exempted from the 25% tariff, likely because disrupting the supply of chips would also hurt US tech companies that rely on Malaysian semiconductor assembly and testing. Malaysia should press to make this exemption permanent and possibly expand it to other high tech or strategic products. For instance, components for electric vehicles or specialised medical devices may be candidates for exclusion if Malaysia can convincingly argue that American industries would be harmed by a tariff-induced supply crunch. In the past US trade actions, the UK, for example, negotiated an aerospace-related exemption in separate talks. Malaysia could similarly identify a shortlist of priority exports that are crucial to US supply chains, which include semiconductors, high-value electronic components and changes, head straight to emergency. So I did. What followed was a slow spiral – days in a hospital room, my vision narrowing and my head heavy as stone. They drilled a hole in my skull to relieve the pressure. And when things did not improve, they opened it up. They removed the cavernoma – and with it, a part of the person I used to be. The surgery was a success, technically. The mass was gone but the aftermath lingered. I emerged with a facial paralysis on the right side and fine motor loss in my left hand. I could not use a straw to drink. I could not button a shirt with my left hand. I could not pronounce the consonants F, V, B and M without sounding like I was underwater. These were not headline-worthy losses. No one made a documentary about it but they changed my daily rhythm in subtle ways. And now, almost a decade later, they still do. In the neuro clinic, I am often the most “normal-looking” person in the

push to pressure countries with trade surpluses into renegotiating terms more favourable to Washington. If we compare our 25% tariff to other countries, it is lower than some peers, for example, Thailand at 36% tariff and Cambodia facing a 49% tariff. Fortunately, many US trade partners are in a similar 20 to 30% tariff range, so Malaysia is not alone in this predicament. Yet, undeniably, even a five to 10% cost difference could sway procurement decisions in price sensitive industries. Some Asean partners, such as Singapore, faced significantly lower rates, thereby increasing the risk of US sourcing being diverted to these lower-tariff alternatives. As the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers warns, this could erode Malaysia’s market share and competitiveness. The US accounts for over 13% of Malaysia’s total exports, so any broad-based tariff will inevitably hit major industries. High-impact sectors include electrical and electronic products, machinery and equipment parts to palm oil plantations and solar photovoltaic panels. Companies in the affected industries may, in turn, cut back on production and new hiring or even trim their workforce to manage costs. A large decrease in export orders can spill over to logistics providers, smaller suppliers and service businesses that depend on factory workers, hence threatening their income. I AM often told I look normal. In fact, when I sit in the waiting room of the neuro clinic for my annual check-up, I might even look like I am there for someone else. I dress neatly. I walk in unaided. I respond when my name is called. There is no oxygen tank by my side, no slurred speech and no visible signs that something once went deeply wrong. But I am the patient. I am the one with a brainstem cavernoma – a rare malformation tucked deep inside the pons, where vital things live: breathing, swallowing, balance and vision. Mine was discovered almost by accident in late 2015 after a year of quiet, persistent numbness. No real pain. Just a strange tingling on the left side of my body – like when your leg falls asleep. Except this one did not wake up. Even after diagnosis, I felt mostly fine. Until I didn’t. On my 41st birthday, after a small slice of cake, I vomited. Just once. But I remembered what my neurosurgeon had said: If anything

The 25% tariff shock should be treated as a turning point to recalibrate Malaysia’s trade strategy. – MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN

aerospace parts, and lobby for their exclusion from the tariff list as part of a deal. Moreover, Malaysia could tackle specific US complaints that have been stumbling blocks in trade negotiations. Several Malaysian policies were highlighted in the US Trade Representative’s report (March 31), including burdensome halal certification requirements for US exporters, restrictions on foreign ownership in certain sectors, high excise taxes on US automobiles and restrictive government procurement rules. While these concerns are framed room. There is a cruel kind of irony to that. Some patients shuffle in, others are wheeled. Some can’t speak. Others don’t respond. And then, there is me – smiling halfway, speaking carefully, nodding with one side of my face. And because I pass, people assume I am fine – that I have recovered and the story is over. But recovery does not always mean return; sometimes it means reinvention. I am not who I was. But I am someone still becoming. We live in a world obsessed with how things appear – with symmetry, vitality and performance. We admire recovery when it ends in a triumphant “after”. What we don’t talk about is the middle. That long, awkward middle where you are not who you were and not yet sure who you will be. It is in that space I have quietly learned how to live again – how to laugh when others flinch at my half smile, how to teach when my words won’t form the way they used to, how to type research papers when my fingers fumble the home keys. Haruki Murakami once wrote: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” It is the kind of quote that looks great on a poster but feels

to elimination of tariff, non-tariff policies and trade barriers, these tariffs will still be modified”. In short, the 25% tariff shock should be treated as a turning point to recalibrate Malaysia’s trade strategy. By pursuing sectorial exemptions, enacting credible reforms that enhance domestic economic governance and building export resilience, Malaysia can build the foundations of long-term trade security. YapWen Min is a policy analyst at HEYA Inc, a non-profit think-tank and people’s academy. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com you are fine and you let them. Not because you owe them silence but because you have made peace with being misread. When someone asks me if I am fully recovered, I say, “I’m well”. And I mean it. I am well in ways that matter. I teach, I research and I write. I am raising three sons with a woman who knew me before all this. I show up. I adapt. I live. But once a year, when I sit in that neuro clinic – surrounded by wheelchairs, soft-spoken nurses and a neurosurgeon who never forgets my face – I remember that I belong to a quiet category. Not the visibly broken. Not the visibly healed. Just quietly altered. And maybe that is the mark I carry now – not the scar at the back of my head, not the asymmetry of my smile but the quiet knowledge that looking normal and being fine are not the same thing. Not even close. DrNahrizul Adib Kadri is a professor of biomedical engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and the principal of Ibnu Sina Residential College, Universiti Malaya. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

as trade irritants, many also reflect deeper gaps in market transparency, regulatory clarity and competitive access. By making these reforms, Malaysia can not only address US trade concerns but also enhance its institutional credibility, reduce uncertainty for businesses and attract higher-quality foreign direct investment. Crucially, the US has hinted that tariffs are negotiable if its concerns are addressed. As noted by Sunway University economics professor and government adviser Yeah Kim Leng, “The US does still leave some leeway as it is expected that, subject slippery in practice. Pain can change you long before you choose how to respond to it. And sometimes, just waking up and carrying on is the only choice you have. Murakami’s characters often walk through surreal landscapes of loss and disorientation, not to escape their pain but to better understand it. I think about that often – how we don’t really get out of the woods but just learn to walk differently within them. I like to think there is a quiet club for people like me. We don’t meet. We don’t speak of it. But we recognise each other – in the slightly delayed grip of a handshake, in the gentle sway of someone regaining balance, in the pause before a word that is harder to pronounce than it used to be. Coelho once wrote: “The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.” Maybe the same can be said for strength itself. Real strength isn’t loud. It does not announce its victories; it adapts. It hums quietly beneath the surface of ordinary things – holding a pen, buttoning a cuff, walking into a clinic with your head held just high enough. Over time, you learn to stop explaining yourself. People will think

The invisible club: Living between broken and healed

COMMENT by Dr Nahrizul Adib Kadri