KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia mentioned on Thursday that any try by the brand new Trump administration to impose tariffs on BRICS international locations in an try and create a brand new forex or use options to the greenback may trigger disruption within the international semiconductor provide chain.
The BRIC group of main rising economies initially included Brazil, Russia, India and China, and has since expanded to incorporate different international locations.
Malaysia has utilized to be a part of the bloc, which goals to problem a world order dominated by Western economies, however has but to be formally accepted as a member.
Commerce Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz mentioned Malaysia was carefully monitoring developments after US President-elect Donald Trump mentioned BRICS members would face tariffs of 100% at the least that they commit to not create a brand new forex or to not assist one other forex that might substitute the American greenback.
Tengku Zafrul famous that the US was Malaysia's third largest buying and selling companion and American corporations had been the primary traders in its semiconductor sector. Malaysia is a serious hub that accounts for round 13% of worldwide chip testing and packaging.
“As such, any transfer to impose a 100% tariff will solely hurt each events who depend on one another for his or her efforts to stop disruptions within the international provide chain” , he declared in a parliamentary response.
He added that though BRICS international locations have mentioned lowering their reliance on conventional buying and selling currencies such because the US greenback, no official selections have been made concerning dedollarization efforts.
The group has no widespread forex, however long-running discussions on the topic gained some momentum after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
On Monday, Russia mentioned any U.S. try and power international locations to make use of the greenback would backfire and solely strengthen international locations' efforts to undertake nationwide currencies of their commerce.
