Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia was one of the US’s largest trading partners and conducted its trade in a fair and equitable manner.
“The Malaysian government does not manipulate our currency nor does it provide any subsidies that violate international rules, such as those set by the World Trade Organisation,” he said in a written reply to William Leong (PKR-Selayang) in the Dewan Rakyat.
Last April, Trump signed an executive order to stop “foreign importers that cheat”.
Under the order, countries with large trade imbalances with the US would be closely scrutinised for a 90-day period while the administration held talks with manufacturers, service providers, farmers and consumers to identify problems.
Apart from Malaysia, the other countries targeted under the Trump investigation were China, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Mustapa said he and Prime Minister Najib Razak explained the trade deficit situation to Trump at their meeting in Washington on Sept 12.
“Malaysia’s statistics recorded a US$5 billion American deficit but the US’s figures showed the deficit at US$25 billion.
“The prime minister and I explained that the difference in the data arose because the US took into account imports of Malaysian products via a third country,” he said.
He added that the US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had clarified that Malaysia’s inclusion in the list of “trade cheats” was not an accusation.
“It was more a reference to the trade imbalance between the US and Malaysia. In line with this, our two countries will use the investment and trade working framework agreement as the platform to resolve bilateral issues concerning trade and investment,” he said.