(July 8): Marco Rubio is making his first trip to Asia as the top US diplomat, heading to a summit in Malaysia a day after President Donald Trump again threatened to slam the region with high tariffs.

The secretary of state flies to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday for a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. While he’d prefer to keep the focus on security issues and competition with China, the trip will take place under the shadow of Trump’s latest tariff gambit.

On Monday, Trump unveiled the first of several potential higher tariffs rates on key trading partners, including levies of 25% on goods from Malaysia, Japan and South Korea beginning August 1. Fellow Asean members Laos and Myanmar will see tariffs of 40% if Trump delivers on his threats, while Cambodia and Thailand will get 36% and Indonesia faces 32%.

Trump had earlier set July 9 for the expiration of a 90-day pause on the so-called reciprocal tariffs unveiled in early April, freezing all rates at 10% and opening negotiations amid tumbling markets and fears of a US recession.

A senior State Department official told reporters Monday that the July 9 deadline will pass while Rubio is travelling to Malaysia, and said the department doesn’t lead negotiations for bilateral deals. Still, the secretary will echo the White House’s message on tariffs, the official said, defending the need to rebalance US trade relationships.

Rubio “is focused on reaffirming the United States’ commitment to advancing a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific region,” the State Department said in a statement before the latest tariffs were announced.

Former trade negotiator Barbara Weisel said partners would aim to focus on the meetings’ formal agenda and separate their broader relationship from trade tensions.

“But privately, countries that are hit with tariffs over 10% almost certainly will raise their frustration and anger at the US,” said Weisel, now a scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Malaysia on Tuesday said it will continue to negotiate with the US on trade issues, adding that it’s seeking “a fair and sustainable outcome” for both countries.

Rubio will also likely face questions about Trump’s threat Sunday to impose an additional 10% tariff on any country that aligns itself with what he called the “anti-American policies” of the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Indonesia became a full BRICS member in January, while Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand joined as partner nations.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected at the Asean summit, as is Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. President Vladimir Putin’s government, entrenched in the war in Ukraine, is deepening ties in Southeast Asia through energy and defence deals.

For weeks, the administration has indicated its tariffs would revert to their higher April 2 levels for countries that failed to strike accords aimed at reducing US trade imbalances. Other nations will seek to follow the example of Asean member Vietnam, which last week reached a deal for a 20% tariff on its exports — compared with a 46% duty originally threatened — though goods deemed to be transshipped face a 40% rate — a provision largely aimed at China.

Trade between China and Asean nations reached US$982 billion (RM4.1 trillion) last year, according to a report by state-run Xinhua News Agency. By comparison, US goods trade with the region totalled almost US$477 billion — with US$352 billion of that American imports, official data shows.

“Southeast Asia is home to a lot of significant exporters,” said Mingze Wu, currency trader at StoneX Financial in Singapore. “Since Trump’s tariffs are a very crude tool to equalise trade balance, that make countries from Laos to Myanmar and Indonesia natural targets.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has suggested that some countries lacking an agreement by the July 9 deadline would be able to negotiate until the tariffs are scheduled to kick in on August 1. While the job of negotiating trade deals falls mainly to Bessent and others, Rubio is one of the first Trump cabinet members to travel to Asia after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth came to Singapore in early June.

“This will be the administration’s first real chance to reassure Asian allies and partners that the US isn’t retreating from economic and diplomatic leadership,” said Gregory Poling, a director and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “So far they’ve mostly seen Hegseth, who can only say that the US military remains engaged. This will be a hard message for Rubio to deliver.”

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