ASEAN To Be More Efficient For More Room On Tariff Negotiations -- Sri Mulyani

By Nor Baizura Basri & Harizah Hanim Mohamed

KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Bernama) -- ASEAN member states are focusing on eliminating distortions to be more efficient for more room on negotiations, as Washington expressed concerns about tariff and non-tariff barriers, says Indonesia Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Welcoming the pause of reciprocal tariffs by the United States, Sri Mulyani, an experienced policy maker and economist, said many member states recognise that they still have room to improve their trade policy and investment policies. 

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“So we hope that this 90-day pause will provide an opportunity, a very valuable opportunity between the US and all countries so that as the biggest economy in the world, the US will see the rest of the world more as a potential positive-sum game relationship,” she told Bernama in an interview on the sidelines of the 12th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM), here today.

Sri Mulyani said the rippling effect on global stocks following US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement on April 2 stemmed from anxiety and uncertainty.

However, she stressed that the 10-member bloc, as a group and individually, have good mechanisms in place to respond to this kind of shock, given their experience in managing crises like the Asian financial crisis, global economic crisis and Covid-19.

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She added that there must be serious attention to economic fundamentals.

“So, macroeconomic policy, which needs to be fiscal, monetary, and structural reform, must be combined for us (ASEAN) to strengthen the fundamentals of the economy,” she said.

According to media reports, Sri Mulyani is expected to travel to Washington next week with other top Indonesian economic officials to negotiate the tariff for the country.

Apart from Indonesia, Malaysia is also among over 75 countries granted a 90-day reprieve from a separate deadline that would have subjected them to tariffs exceeding the 10 per cent baseline figure.

On another note, Sri Mulyani, who led a delegation to the AFMGM, also commended Malaysia’s leadership, describing how the ASEAN’s theme this year of inclusivity and sustainability is very timely with the current environment.

She said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership in coordinating, communicating and evaluating the issue of the US tariffs allowed ASEAN to work together as a group.

“The ASEAN chairmanship, by Malaysia, is very, very critical in trying to reinforce all this cooperation,” she said, especially with intra-ASEAN trade accounting for only 22 per cent of total ASEAN trade.

Sri Mulyani, a former World Bank managing director, pointed out that many complementarities between member states still need to be worked out so that members don’t see each other as more competing.

“We also see that with this environment, especially the US policy, a lot of potential diversion of trade from the US, especially with the other regions, for example, like European countries, even India in this case, and Australia, New Zealand and other rest of the ASEAN, like ASEAN+3,” she added.

-- BERNAMA