Only 4.2% of Malaysia’s Exports Face New US Tariffs

 

Phillip Capital estimates the total value of exports subject to the 10% tariff imposed by the US to be RM63.3 billion, equivalent to 4.2% of Malaysia’s total exports. On the national level, the total exports value subject to the 10% tariff is around RM63.3 billion or 4.2% of the Malaysia’s total exports. Strong global demand for semiconductor, which is exempted from the tariff, will continue to play a key role in boosting Malaysia’s exports.

 

Under the new tariff policy, countries will be subject to either a 10% or 12.5% tariff rate, depending on the strength of their labour safeguard policies and the extent to which they prohibit the importation of goods produced using forced labour.

 

Phillip Capital expects the impact of the new tariffs on Malaysia’s external demand to remain relatively limited due to key drivers of the country's export performance, namely within the semiconductor and electrical and electronics (E&E) sector.

 

Approximately 68.0% of Malaysia’s exports to the US will be exempted from the tariff.

 

By product category, semiconductors recorded the highest exemption rate at 99.9%, while the exemption rates for E&E products stood at 67.1% and non-E&E exports at 45.4%. The US remains an important export destination for Malaysia’s E&E sector. Between 2023 and 2025, Malaysia’s exports to the US accounted for about 13.1% of Malaysia’s total exports, while E&E products alone accounted for 34.0% of Malaysia’s exports to the US.

 

Overall, Malaysia will continue to have a robust export pipeline to the US, thanks to undisrupted global semiconductor supply chains.

 

Beyond semiconductors or E&E, we need to actively diversify our exports and secure non-USD payments for those exports. The US under Trump has no clue short-term or long-term. It is based on “gut” economics of one, clueless man!

 

Reference:

Only 4.2% of Malaysia’s exports face new US tariffs as key tech sector spared — Phillip Capital, Nikail Rezza, theedgemalaysia.com, 7 August 2026

 

Ancient Kedah’s Iron Ore Abundance Due to Meteoric Shower?

 

Arabic linguistic specialist-turned-historian without credentials, Prof Dr Solehah Yaacob is back! She has another mind-boggling archaeological revelation –iron ore found in Kedah is related to meteors! Gunung Jerai is among the areas that received meteoric impacts in the past. Her latest findings also debate the relatively sloping terrain of Kedah.

 

This could well be the latest of eight if not more controversial claims by the former International Islamic University Malaysia’s (IIUM) senior academician. It defies modern day historical, archaeological, anthropological and sociological knowledge realms.

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org

The inaugural director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania Prof James Chin in a recent assessment of his IIUM academic peer following the list-down of her so-called “8 controversial claims” by the SEA History and Heritage site passed this remark: 

I’ve nothing meaningful to add, I’m simply not operating at her level. All I can share is that this poster has already been viewed 800K times as of this morning. 

She’s clearly gaining significant traction among the Malay community and is now running paid boat-cruise tours that she personally leads. 

These cruises are specifically designed to demonstrate and validate her research findings by taking passengers to the very locations that support her claims. I’m not joking. 

For context, Kedah is historically and naturally rich in iron ore with the state having emerged as a major iron mining and smelting centre in Southeast Asia more than 2,000 years ago. Excavations at the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex revealed old smelting workshops, furnaces and raw iron ore dating back as early as the sixth century BCE. Researchers also found large ancient smelting furnaces and processing sites in inland areas like Jeneri (in the Sik district) and Jeniang (in the Kuala Muda district). 

Not everyone takes Prof Solehah’s words at par value despite her clip-on Facebook having amassed 5.8K likes, 829 comments, 772 shares and viewed 179K times at the time of writing. One pious Indonesian commenter even chided the academician. A seemingly archaeological nerd disputed Prof Solehan’s “meteoric shower” notion by justifying that “the Sungai Batu iron ore is local hematite and magnetite from around Bukit Tupah, the result of weathering of the Jerai formation, which is hundreds of millions of years old, not meteoritic material”. 

She needs attention. And Arabic studies do not give her that. She has no background or clue of history but propagates messages that may be helpful to insecure people. 

Reference:

Prof Solehah: Ancient Kedah’s iron ore abundance due to meteoric shower, not natural formation, Focus Malaysia, 20 August 2026