Kuala lumpur: ASEAN and the United States (US) have made significant progress in their bilateral relations, marked by the confirmed attendance of US President Donald Trump at the upcoming 47th ASEAN Summit, where both sides are expected to strengthen economic cooperation through the signing of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART).
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz stated that the agreement would bring reciprocal benefits to both ASEAN and the US. The ART is expected to complement and further reinforce ASEAN's economic strength, benefiting the bloc's over 600 million people.
'We are now in the final stages of finalising the ART. I think the US is in discussions with a few ASEAN countries to finalise this. The hope and the aim are to have this agreement signed by the two leaders during this summit. For ASEAN, we want to show America, especially the Trump administration, that we engage everyone, including the US, and more importantly, ASEAN can be a partner to all countries, including the US,' he noted during a themed interview on ASEAN's economic prosperity and regional political stability.
Trump is set to attend the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits from October 26-28. It was reported that Malaysia and the US are poised to sign a reciprocal tariff agreement at the summit in Kuala Lumpur, with various sectors likely to benefit, including agriculture, industrial and manufacturing, as well as businesses engaged in trade and investment with the US.
From January to September 2025, trade between Malaysia and the US displayed robust performance, expanding by 15.4 percent to RM270.88 billion. Exports rose by 18.2 percent to RM166.38 billion, driven by increased exports of electrical and electronics products, machinery, equipment and parts, as well as processed food. Imports from the US increased by 11.2 percent to RM104.50 billion.
The ART serves as a binding framework for future bilateral economic cooperation and covers six main areas: tariffs and quotas, non-tariff barriers, digital trade and technology, rules of origin, economic and national security, and commercial considerations. Tengku Zafrul emphasized that ASEAN aims to complement the US rather than compete with it, by reinforcing and supporting the US supply chain.
'For example, in semiconductors, many ASEAN countries are big players. It is a very important part of their supply chain. It is not that we are taking over the supply chain, but that the supply chain has strengthened the US supply chain itself. So we need to show the complementarities, the economies of ASEAN and the US,' he added.
ASEAN's trade in goods with the US reached US$476.8 billion in 2024, with US goods exports to ASEAN estimated at US$124.6 billion, while imports from the region totaled US$352.3 billion. Under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia assumed the chairmanship of ASEAN on January 1, 2025. The Philippines will take over as chair of ASEAN in 2026.