Trump may attend Asean summit in October, says Rubio

KUALA LUMPUR: United States President Donald Trump may attend the 47th Asean Summit and related summits in October, says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“It’s possible, yes. We are working on getting a date for that,” said Rubio after the Asean-US Post Ministerial Conference in KLCC on Thursday (July 10).

Rubio also said that many countries in Asean are going to have new tariff rates that are actually better than many other countries in other parts of the world.

“The door always remains open to adjustments if agreements can be reached.

“We are also actively in conversations with multiple countries that are represented here on ways to make even further progress.

“But, the market demands certainty and we need to let everyone know that the baseline tariff is starting Aug 1,” said Rubio.

Rubio also said there will be tariff talks with many countries, including Japan next week.

“The history of the 21st century will be largely written in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in Southeast Asia.

“This is the part of the world where over 6,000 American companies have invested,” said Rubio.

Rubio also assured that these are important comprehensive economic and defence cooperation partnerships that the US will never abandon.

“If you look at the demographics of Southeast Asia, this is the youngest part of the world.

“You are about to see enormous growth in the labour pool. This is an exciting and extraordinary historical time,” said Rubio.

Therefore, Rubio said the US delegation is present at the AMM to express its appreciation to the region.

“We spent decades building these relationships. Not only are we not going to walk away from them, but we seek to expand them and build upon them,” added Rubio.

Rubio is expected to conclude his trip in Malaysia on Friday (July 11).

On April 2, Trump announced tariffs on various countries, including 24% on Malaysia. The tariffs were paused for 90 days to allow for negotiations.

On Monday (July 7), Trump announced varying tariff rates on 14 countries to take effect on Aug 1, including a 25% rate on Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Tunisia and Kazakhstan. Other countries were hit with higher rates such as Cambodia (36%), Thailand (36%), and 40% in Laos, and Myanmar, respectively.