China’s Xi Jinping arrives in Malaysia as Asean grapples with Trump tariff threats

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Malaysia for a three-day visit, with the Southeast Asian nation likely to seek to sell more electronics, palm oil and halal products into China, as the United States threatens its allies in the region with tariffs into its giant market.

Xi was greeted on the tarmac by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday evening and given a guard of honour from the Malaysian Armed Forces.

He is scheduled to have an audience with Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar on Wednesday morning, followed by a meeting with Anwar, and is expected to sign a raft of deals at a crucial time for Malaysian businesses scrambling for new markets as Washington fires out tariffs.

The Malaysia visit – part of a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia – comes as China steps into the role of a stable regional leader on trade, a position vacated by the US under President Donald Trump, whose tariffs have sowed chaos, stunned exporters and questioned the direction of long-standing alliances with America.

Malaysia – like its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) peers – has fewer than 90 days before Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs come into effect.

Malaysia faces a 24 per cent blanket tariff on all exports barring its semiconductors and computers, which have appeared to have a temporary reprieve.