Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has highlighted unity among Global South countries in addressing political and economic challenges facing countries around the world.
Last week, Anwar sat with China Global Television network (CGTN) for an interview on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in north China's Tianjin and the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
In response to a question on facing up to unilateralism and U.S. tariff policies, the prime minister underscored efforts to build up Global South unity through multilateral bodies.
"The solution is to build up that Global South understanding to be able to resolve part of the problem ourselves and not to be dependent by any superpower. So, we have the ASEAN Initiative, we have the Chinese initiative and we have the BRICS and we have the SCO. These are, I think, where we say, look, we can partly mitigate and redeem some of the contentious issues affecting us, not only in terms of global politics, but also in terms of economic, to protect economic interests of these countries," he said.
The United States raised its tariffs on Malaysia to 25 percent in July this year, later reducing the levies to 19 percent in August.
The lower rate will apply to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from a warehouse for consumption, on or after seven days following the date of the order, according to a White House statement.
However, the new rate will not apply to goods that are loaded onto vessels and already in transit on the final mode of transport before that time, provided they are entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouses for consumption before Oct. 5, it added.
Malaysian PM highlights Global South unity, multilateralism to address common challenges
