Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that tariffs are now being used to “pressure, isolate and contain” other countries, urging the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations to enhance trade among each other.
"Power has always shaped trade, but today it increasingly defines it across the world. Tools once used to generate growth are now wielded to pressure, isolate and contain," Anwar told the opening session of the 58th ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
"Tariffs, export restrictions and investment barriers have now become the sharpened instruments of geopolitical rivalry," he added.
Anwar's comments came as the US set out a plan to impose tariffs on allies and rivals alike. Malaysia faces 25 percent tariffs, and the two sides are currently holding negotiations.
"We must read the landscape clinically, speak with coherence, and act with foresight. Our cohesion must not end at declarations. It must be built into our institutions, our strategies and our economic decisions," he told the 10-member Southeast Asian bloc.
Anwar said that the multilateral system "cannot endure if its principles are upheld only when convenient, and therefore, ASEAN must be among those who choose to stand for rules, even when others choose to retreat."
“Yet we have preserved peace and expanded prosperity in ways few regions can equal. We did so by nurturing a habit of cooperation, a willingness to keep engaging, even when the past was difficult and the present testing,” he said.
‘Multilateralism is under attack’
The bloc's strength "lies not in the absence of tension, but in its ability to manage it constructively," said the Malaysian prime minister, emphasising "ASEAN centrality."
The ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting will continue until Friday as Malaysia is the bloc’s chair this year.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said that the region must continue to leverage its governing power to promote dialogue, diplomacy, and security to create space for cooperation.
“Meaningful dialogue and peaceful resolution are needed now more than ever, all over the world, as we are witnessing the breakdown of humanity as well as the moral and legal norms that once defined the global system.
“Multilateralism is under attack; unilateralism and nationalism are on the rise. In this fragmented world, ASEAN’s unity and centrality are our capital,” he said.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi as well as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also hold bilateral, bloc-level meetings with ASEAN.
