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Southeast Asian leaders meet to talk tariffs, truce and East Timor

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Agence France-Presse

<div><br/></div><p>KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Southeast Asian leaders meet Monday for their first summit since Donald Trump&#x27;s tariff policies upended global economic norms, with the trade-dependent nations expected to issue a joint message of deep concern over recent US actions.</p><p>The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will also tackle pressing regional issues, attempting to increase pressure on Myanmar&#x27;s military junta and iron out remaining issues with East Timor&#x27;s application to join the bloc.</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1926643571119002030&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-05-26T02%3A38%3A10.859222%3Ad66c390f-3f2f-4e4e-a179-453b77d57a88%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=a069483a8dfe18a8a1766a0b1d6672f8a73ea3ef&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:648px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1926643571119002030"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><p>On Tuesday the leaders will be joined in Kuala Lumpur by representatives of China and Gulf states, as they seek to solidify diverse economic alliances in the face of future uncertainty.</p><p>Trump cast international markets into turmoil in April when he announced wide-ranging tariffs on Washington&#x27;s trading partners, before the US president agreed to pause them for most countries for 90 days.</p><p>Bilateral talks between ASEAN member states and Washington are in progress, but the bloc must still present a united front, Malaysia -- which holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN -- said before the summit.</p><p>&quot;We believe that it&#x27;s important to continue to have a dialogue with the United States,&quot; said Malaysian trade minister Zafrul Aziz.</p><p>However, &quot;it&#x27;s important that we stand behind the principles of multilateralism where we believe in a rule-based global trading order with the World Trade Organization at its core&quot;, he told a press conference Sunday.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6xozUM2ccck?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Deep concern&#x27; on tariffs -</strong></div><p>According to a draft statement seen by AFP, ASEAN will express &quot;deep concern... over the imposition of unilateral tariff measures&quot;, saying they &quot;pose complex and multidimensional challenges&quot; to the bloc.</p><p>But ASEAN said earlier this year it would not impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States.</p><p>Instead, it is looking at broadening its scope with other trading blocs including the European Union, as well as beefing up trade between member states themselves, Zafrul said.</p><p>The presence on Tuesday of Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the Gulf Cooperation Council -- a bloc made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- underscores this.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s not just a photo-op. It actually demonstrates how ASEAN is attempting to engage strategically with various blocs, a strategy we might term multi-alignment diplomacy,&quot; said Khoo Ying Hooi from Malaya University.</p><p>In contrast, Malaysian foreign minister Mohamad Hasan said Sunday that the United States had not yet responded to a letter requesting a special ASEAN-US summit this year.</p><p>&quot;Ideally ASEAN members should be asking themselves whether maintaining neutrality is enough?&quot; Adib Zalkapli from risk advisory firm Viewfinder Global Affairs told AFP.</p><p>Trump&#x27;s tariffs have shown that &quot;ASEAN member states cannot remain as passive bystanders waiting for other major powers to set the global agenda&quot;, he said.</p><div><strong>- Myanmar conflict -<br/></strong></div><p>On Sunday Malaysia tried to up pressure on member state Myanmar&#x27;s military junta, whose leaders are barred from ASEAN summits over a lack of progress on a five-point peace deal agreed on by the bloc in 2021.</p><p>&quot;One thing for sure that we agreed is that Myanmar&#x27;s government... must comply with the five points consensus which they themselves agreed on as one of the signatories,&quot; Mohamad said.</p><p>ASEAN has led so far fruitless diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, triggered when the junta staged a coup deposing civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.</p><p>Mohamad called Sunday for an extension and expansion of a ceasefire declared after a deadly earthquake, despite ongoing fighting bringing its effectiveness into question.</p><p>Meanwhile ASEAN may add an 11th member state before the end of the year, the top diplomat said.</p><p>East Timor, Asia&#x27;s youngest nation, &quot;has made meaningful progress in implementing a roadmap&quot; and there is &quot;strong support&quot; for it to join the bloc, he said.</p><p>ASEAN member states will &quot;now begin undertaking their respective domestic legal procedure&quot; with a view to finalising its accession by the next summit in October &quot;hopefully&quot;, Mohamad said.</p><p>llk-jhe-reb/rsc</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p>

<p>Southeast Asian leaders meet Monday for their first summit since Donald Trump's tariff policies upended global economic norms, with the trade-dependent nations expected to issue a joint message of deep concern over recent US actions.</p>

Southeast Asian leaders meet Monday for their first summit since Donald Trump's tariff policies upended global economic norms, with the trade-dependent nations expected to issue a joint message of deep concern over recent US actions.