On October 26, 2025, the Trump Administration announced a series of trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia, as well as framework agreements with Thailand and Vietnam, marking expanded US economic engagement across Southeast Asia. Vietnam: According to a joint statement, Vietnam will open its market to most US exports on a duty-free basis, while the United States maintains a 20% tariff on Vietnamese goods, with some exceptions, to be listed in Annex III to Executive…
On July 7, President Trump announced revised tariffs rates for certain trading partners that will take effect on August 1 and extended the postponement of his “Liberation Day” tariffs. The revised tariffs were announced via letters to 14 countries and range from 25% to 40%. These actions come mere days before President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which were paused to allow for the negotiation of bilateral trade agreements, were due to resume on July 9 for…
In brief The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) has announced the resumption of Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin (NPCO) approvals for specific product categories to be exported to Russia, which include various types of ball or roller bearings. This follows a prior announcement regarding the temporary suspension of NPCO approvals for certain products to be exported to Russia effective 3 December 2024. In more detail Effective 1 January 2025, MITI has resumed issuing NPCO…
Following the re-tabling of the Malaysian Budget 2023 on 24 February 2023, the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) have reintroduced the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) 2.0 and the Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) which apply to direct taxes and indirect taxes respectively. A similar programme was previously implemented in 2022 for indirect taxes and in 2019 for direct taxes, although there are some key differences in respect of the…
The ratification of two of the world’s mega-regional free trade agreements, namely the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), marks a significant milestone for Malaysia in its pursuit of bolstering foreign investments and expanding its trade horizons. Malaysia has successfully ratified the RCEP on 17 January 2022, followed by the ratification of the CPTPP on 30 September 2022. Subsequently, the RCEP came into force on 18…
Following the passing of a suite of legislations, sales tax at the rate of 10% will be imposed on low value goods (i.e., all goods outside Malaysia which are sold at a price not exceeding RM 500 and brought into Malaysia via land, sea or air modes) (“LVG”) sold by a seller (i.e., a person who sells LVG on an online marketplace or operates an online marketplace for the sales and purchase of LVG) (“Seller”).…
Baker McKenzie’s InsightPlus published “Vietnam: Early warning – Potential anti-dumping investigation against office desks, chairs and their parts originating from China and Malaysia,” which can be viewed here.
On 2 June 2021, the UK government announced that the CPTPP nations had agreed to the UK’s bid to begin the accession process to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The CPTPP is a trade agreement between 11 countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam), covering 500 million people. The announcement said the UK will continue to work closely with Japan, as this year’s…
Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry announced that on 9 April 2021, Singapore deposited its instrument of ratification with the Secretary-General of ASEAN and became the first country to complete the official process for ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement. It is understood that China, Japan and Thailand completed their domestic procedures to approve RCEP, but apparently have not deposited their instruments of ratification with ASEAN. RCEP is the world’s largest free trade agreement and…
On March 29, 2021, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will publish in the Federal Register a notice of finding that certain disposable gloves produced in Malaysia with the use of convict, forced or indentured labor are being, or are likely to be, imported into the United States [CBP Dec. 21-08]. This Finding applies to any merchandise described in Section II of the notice that is imported on or after March 29, 2021. It also…