Southeast Asian leaders meet to talk tariffs, truce and East Timor

Southeast Asian leaders meet Monday for their first summit since Donald Trump's tariff policies upended global economic norms, with the trade-dependent nations expected to issue a joint message of deep concern over recent US actions.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will also tackle pressing regional issues, attempting to increase pressure on Myanmar's military junta and iron out remaining issues with East Timor's application to join the bloc.

On Tuesday the leaders will be joined in Kuala Lumpur by representatives of China and Gulf states, as they seek to solidify diverse economic alliances in the face of future uncertainty.

Trump cast international markets into turmoil in April when he announced wide-ranging tariffs on Washington's trading partners, before the US president agreed to pause them for most countries for 90 days.

Bilateral talks between ASEAN member states and Washington are in progress, but the bloc must still present a united front, Malaysia -- which holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN -- said before the summit.

"We believe that it's important to continue to have a dialogue with the United States," said Malaysian trade minister Zafrul Aziz.

However, "it's important that we stand behind the principles of multilateralism where we believe in a rule-based global trading order with the World Trade Organization at its core", he told a press conference Sunday.

'Deep concern' on tariffs

According to a draft statement seen by AFP, ASEAN will express "deep concern... over the imposition of unilateral tariff measures", saying they "pose complex and multidimensional challenges" to the bloc.

But ASEAN said earlier this year it would not impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States.

Instead, it is looking at broadening its scope with other trading blocs including the European Union, as well as beefing up trade between member states themselves, Zafrul said.

The presence on Tuesday of Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the Gulf Cooperation Council -- a bloc made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- underscores this.

"It's not just a photo-op. It actually demonstrates how ASEAN is attempting to engage strategically with various blocs, a strategy we might term multi-alignment diplomacy," said Khoo Ying Hooi from Malaya University.

In contrast, Malaysian foreign minister Mohamad Hasan said Sunday that the United States had not yet responded to a letter requesting a special ASEAN-US summit this year.

"Ideally ASEAN members should be asking themselves whether maintaining neutrality is enough?" Adib Zalkapli from risk advisory firm Viewfinder Global Affairs told AFP.

Trump's tariffs have shown that "ASEAN member states cannot remain as passive bystanders waiting for other major powers to set the global agenda", he said.

Myanmar conflict

On Sunday Malaysia tried to up pressure on member state Myanmar's military junta, whose leaders are barred from ASEAN summits over a lack of progress on a five-point peace deal agreed on by the bloc in 2021.

"One thing for sure that we agreed is that Myanmar's government... must comply with the five points consensus which they themselves agreed on as one of the signatories," Mohamad said.

ASEAN has led so far fruitless diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, triggered when the junta staged a coup deposing civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

Mohamad called Sunday for an extension and expansion of a ceasefire declared after a deadly earthquake, despite ongoing fighting bringing its effectiveness into question.

Meanwhile ASEAN may add an 11th member state before the end of the year, the top diplomat said.

East Timor, Asia's youngest nation, "has made meaningful progress in implementing a roadmap" and there is "strong support" for it to join the bloc, he said.

ASEAN member states will "now begin undertaking their respective domestic legal procedure" with a view to finalising its accession by the next summit in October "hopefully", Mohamad said.