Amid handshakes and familiar friends, Asean navigates tariffs and tension in KL

The current mood has been described as shifting from preservation to reinvention

- Hariz Baharudin

KUALA LUMPUR - At the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Asean foreign ministers convened for the pomp and circumstance of the annual gathering, with the usual group photos, coordinated movements and calls for solidarity.

But in 2025, the stakes are unmistakably higher. The region is under pressure from rising geopolitical strain, mounting internal political turbulence and now, perhaps most notably, a return of tariff diplomacy.

United States President Donald Trump's second-term trade policy looms large, with Asean economies squarely in the crosshairs. On July 8, just a day before the meetings, Mr Trump issued letters detailing revised tariff rates for several Asean countries.

Malaysia and Indonesia, both still negotiating for reductions, were assigned reciprocal rates of 25 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively. Thailand was told to expect 36 per cent, while Laos and Myanmar face 40 per cent each. Cambodia's rate was lowered to 36 per cent from 49 per cent.

The Trump administration has said the tariffs are about levelling the playing field. But for a region long anchored in multilateralism as a safeguard against great-power coercion, the move is not merely a trade policy, it is also a test of Asean's economic resilience and diplomatic unity.

Malaysia, as Asean chair in 2025, has been trying to get ahead of that challenge. At the opening of the meetings on July 9, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made a pointed reference to how trade tools have become entangled with geopolitics.

"Tariffs, export restrictions and investment barriers have now become the sharpened instruments of geopolitical rivalry," said Datuk Seri Anwar. He warned that this was "no passing storm, it is the new weather of our time".

Asean must respond with clarity and conviction, he stressed, calling for stronger alignment between foreign and economic policy to better withstand external pressure.