South China Morning Post | 17 March 2026
Fate of US-Malaysia trade pact rests on Washington’s next move
by Joseph Sipalan
Malaysia will wait for Washington to submit updated terms before deciding its next steps on their tariff deal, the country’s trade minister has said – just days after he declared the agreement had been rendered “null and void” by a US Supreme Court ruling.
The government began the week on the back foot as allies and critics demanded clarity on the status of the multibillion-dollar deal with the United States, after Trade Minister Johari Abdul Ghani was reported on Sunday to have said it was no longer valid.
His ministry later walked back the remarks, with Johari pivoting on Monday to say Malaysia had received no official notification from Washington that the deal had been cancelled.
Negotiations to finalise the “Agreement on Reciprocal Trade” between the two countries were supposed to last five months after it was signed last October, the minister told reporters at an event in Kuala Lumpur.
But he said Washington complicated that process when it launched investigations last week into alleged unfair trade practices by nearly 60 partner nations, including Malaysia.
“When they get their findings, they will submit their proposal to us,” Johari was quoted as saying by the Malay-language daily Berita Harian. “We will take that and discuss their conditions.”
The deal has been in limbo since February, when the US Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump had acted unconstitutionally by invoking emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs on US allies and adversaries alike.
When unveiling his “Liberation Day” tariffs last April, Trump had argued the measures were necessary to correct years of trade imbalances that had benefited foreign partners at the expense of American businesses and consumers.
Malaysia’s trade agreement – signed during Trump’s whirlwind visit to Kuala Lumpur last October – was intended to preserve access for the country’s key export industries to the world’s largest consumer market at a fixed levy of 19 per cent.
In exchange, Malaysia pledged US$240 billion in US investment and purchases of American goods ranging from aeroplanes to beef and oil and gas.
In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling, Trump imposed a uniform 10 per cent tariff on all trading partners, raising fresh questions about whether Malaysia’s deal, along with similar agreements signed by other nations, was still enforceable.
Domestically, a group of government backbenchers on Monday called for the matter to be referred to a parliamentary special select committee to examine how Malaysia found itself in this predicament.
The opposition Perikatan Nasional coalition has separately demanded a special sitting of parliament for the government to explain itself.
Johari advised the opposition to “read the US court ruling”, adding that Washington “hasn’t even written to us” to discuss the status of the trade deal.
