Malaysia PM: Protectionism Will Fail, Free Trade Will Triumph

The 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC) was held over the weekend at the IMPACT Exhibition Center in Muang Thong Thani, Nonthaburi Province, a northern suburb of Bangkok, Thailand. 

The theme of the business investment summit was empowering ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), and Laos in the 21st century.

There was also another theme at the summit, and that was the trade war and how protectionism will be short-lived. 

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told attendees at the summit, that the rapid surge of protectionism seen by the US-China trade war will not last long, and free trade will triumph at the end, who was quoted by The Straits Times.

“Popularism is mounting in Europe and America where there are talks about limiting trade, about trade wars and applying higher taxes for imports. But I think this will not last very long because they will understand that if they cut themselves off from the new producers, they tend to lose a lot. They cannot really stop trade from expanding and becoming multilateral,” Mohamad said.

“There is a fear now that competition this time would benefit the countries in the East, rather than the developed countries from the West. That is why now there is a lot of resistance expressed openly by the people. And the politicians have responded, listening to the people, their worry about their jobs, about their growth, etc, and they like to now restrict trade, rather than have free trade, because now they understand that they are at the wrong end,” he added. 

President Trump skipped out on the summit this weekend, was seen at UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday night. 

Donald Trump is at UFC 244 pic.twitter.com/JF3pDGmbKx

— Dan Gelston (@APgelston) November 3, 2019

Mohamad called President Trump “not a very nice man” and criticized US protectionist policies that were leading the world towards a trade recession.

“People will come to their senses one day. At the very worst, this is going to go on for another five years, if he wins. When you limit the presidency to two terms, then the damage done will be much less,” Mohamad said.

With President Trump absent, China was seen leading the ASEAN summit and vowed to strengthen economic ties with neighboring countries.

”If you go alone, you will be bullied. We don’t want to go into trade war but sometimes when they do things that are not nice to us, we have to be unnice to them,“ says Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of US protectionism. https://t.co/CAh3RhwjFE

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) November 2, 2019

ASEAN countries were striving towards new trade deals with six other nations: China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. None of the trade deals included in the US.

Mohamad better hope President Trump doesn’t win a second term in 2020, otherwise, if he does, protectionism will continue to soar. 

The US is rapidly decoupling from the Eastern Hemisphere. The global economy is being fractured between the West and the East. This will produce a decade of financial market volatility and elevated geopolitical risks if not corrected in the near term.