In a Bernama report, Mohamad said Asean foreign ministers agreed on the matter as they want to ensure that the region continues to remain neutral amid US-China tensions.

“We are trying to be balanced. We already have the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-China Summit,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

“At the special summit, we will present our wish list (to the US) and listen to theirs. (When) dealing with people like this (US president Donald Trump), they will want to listen to what we have (to say).”

Mohamad said Malaysia must not only be careful in managing its foreign policy and bilateral relations, but also be vigilant in managing trade ties so as not to affect the country’s economy.

He stressed that Malaysia cannot afford to disrupt the good trade relations it has with the US, with two-way trade between Malaysia and the US reaching “a very large trade volume” of RM324 billion last year.

“In terms of who benefits from this RM324 billion, Malaysia’s exports to the US was RM198 billion while our imports from the US stood at RM126 billion – so there is a RM70 billion trade surplus in our favour,” he said.

Trump, who was inaugurated on Jan 20, has announced a series of measures threatening to upend international trade.

Reuters reported yesterday that Trump intends to impose auto tariffs “in the neighbourhood of 25%” and similar duties on imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors – the latter of which Malaysia is a key global exporter.

Trump has also imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China, on top of existing levies. He also announced, and then delayed for a month, 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada.