(Jan 17): Malaysia plans to strengthen three-decade-old anti-dumping legislation in the coming weeks to clamp down on a deluge of cheap goods from countries like China, according to a high-ranking trade official.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration wants to streamline the anti-dumping law of 1993 in the next one to two months, Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tong said in an interview on Friday in Singapore. Once in place, the new rules will also make it easier for companies to lodge complaints, he said.

“We are just trying to strengthen the rules,” he said during a visit to the city-state. “Demand is weak in China, so Chinese businessmen are looking for opportunities elsewhere.”

Liew mentioned the reforms in Parliament in July as the government pursues ways to protect small and medium enterprises from the effects of unfair trade following the influx of cheap imported goods. Malaysia has also recently imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on some iron and steel products exported from China, India, Japan and South Korea.

The moves underscore concerns among Southeast Asian governments as they weigh whether to raise tariffs or impose caps on some imports to prevent overseas goods from undercutting local products. Indonesia’s garment industry, for example, may see hundreds of thousands of workers laid off this year if Chinese dumping persists.

Liew proposed that Chinese firms enter into long-term partnerships with Malaysia and set up regional headquarters there. “They can localise supply chains with us so that as many Malaysians participate in their investment,” he said.

Beijing is by far Kuala Lumpur’s largest trading partner with two-way trade reaching RM450.84 billion in 2023, according to government data, with China also accounting for 21.3% of total imports.

Experts warn that dumping from China could worsen if Donald Trump, who returns as US president on Monday, moves ahead with plans to raise tariffs on the world’s second-largest economy, whose companies may seek to offload goods elsewhere.

For now, Liew said Malaysia has no plans to take preemptive measures or respond with tariffs of its own.

“I think the first 100 days will be chaotic,” he said. “We will have to see what is coming out from the new administration, and then I think at some point the market will price it in and the water will find its level. It will be difficult.”

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