Malaysia says any U.S. tariffs on BRICS nations might affect semiconductor provide

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia stated on Thursday any try by the incoming Trump administration to impose tariffs on BRICS nations for making an attempt to create a brand new forex or use alternate options to the greenback might trigger international semiconductor provide chain disruptions.

The BRIC grouping of main rising economies initially included Brazil, Russia, India and China, and has since expanded to soak up different nations.

Malaysia has utilized to be a part of the bloc, which goals to problem a world order dominated by Western economies, however has not but been formally accepted as a member.

Commerce minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz stated Malaysia was intently monitoring developments after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump stated BRICS members would face 100% tariffs until they dedicated to not creating a brand new forex or supporting one other forex that will change the USA greenback.

Tengku Zafrul famous the USA was Malaysia’s third-biggest commerce companion and U.S. companies have been the primary traders in its semiconductor sector. Malaysia is a serious hub which accounts for about 13% of worldwide chip testing and packaging.

“As such, any transfer to impose a 100% tariff will solely hurt each events that are relying on one another for efforts to forestall disruptions within the international provide chain,” he stated in a parliamentary reply.

He added that whereas BRICS nations have mentioned decreasing reliance on conventional commerce currencies such because the U.S. greenback, there was no official choice made on de-dollarisation efforts.

The grouping doesn’t have a standard forex, however long-running discussions on the topic have gained some momentum after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

On Monday, Russia stated any U.S. try to compel nations to make use of the greenback would backfire, and solely strengthen efforts amongst nations to change to nationwide currencies in commerce.