US TARIFFS - THOUSANDS OF MALAYSIAN JOBS AT RISK

 

Some really dumb people are insisting that the US imposing tariffs (still among the lowest tariffs in the world) on other countries will cause an economic recession, depression etc.

But other countries have been imposing humongous tariffs not only against US imports but  against imports from all other countries.  

No wonder the world has been suffering economic recessions and weak growth.

Look at the table below. 

 

China has imposed 67% tariffs on imports.
Vietnam has been imposing 90% tariffs. 
The European Union has been imposing 39% import tariffs. 
Malaysia has been imposing 47% import tariffs against the US. 
Cambodia 97%
South Africa 60% import tariffs.

So that is why there has been a non-stop global economic recession.
Because of all these high tariffs.
So to overcome economic recession can all these countries please cut their tariffs to match the United States of America or lower? 
Apparently Vietnam has already decided to cut its tariffs on American imports. 
Hooray. Clever move. 

 

For those of you who find it difficult to understand what is going on, here is Emil Cosman putting things in a nutshell again.

 

Meanwhile here is some local news about how the US tariffs will affect our economy:

• Labour group warns of job losses from 24% US tariff on M’sia
• labour group fears tens of thousands of Malaysian workers lose jobs 
• following US decision to impose 24% reciprocal tariff on Malaysian imports.
• new 24% tariff could force manufacturing to relocate away from Malaysia
• leading to factory closures and widespread job losses.
• Tens of thousands of workers in Malaysia could be terminated
• urged Putrajaya to reduce dependence on FDI and spur domestic industry
• incentives for local industrialists to invest in Malaysia 
• to generate more jobs domestically.

There is another video (which does not upload) where a young Chinese girl warns us that ALL Malaysian exports to the US will now be hit by the new US tariffs. (The US has exempted our semi-conductors).

We also export tons of palm oil, rubber related products, timber products, furniture etc to the US. All these are going to be seriously hit by the 24% American tariffs.

Here is the Malay Mail:

2024 exports to US all-time high RM200 billion (Matrade).

top five export sectors, current export value to the US:

1. Electronics and Electricals: integrated circuits, semiconductors. Washington exempted semiconductors from the reciprocal tax given its strategic value. Export over RM50 billion in 2024.

2. Machinery, equipment and parts: automatic data processing machines, printing machines and components, air conditioning machines and components and parts of typewriters and calculating machines. Export value RM27 billion in 2024.

3. Medical machines, optical parts: They include instruments and appliances used for medical, dental, surgical and veterinary purposes. Estimated export value in 2024 was RM17.5 billion.

4. Rubbers: Malaysian companies export rubber used for apparels and clothing, surgical gloves, tubes and pipes made of vulcanised rubber among others. Estimated export value in 2024 was RM7.6 billion.

5. Furniture, lighting signs and prefabricated building materials: These included lamps and lighting fitting, illuminated signs and sign plates. Export value in 2024 RM7 billion.

My Comments : 

RM7 billion, RM17.5 billion, RM27 billion, RM7.6 billion. That is a lot of billions.

The Chinese girl in the video also says that Malaysia exports plenty of goods to China, Vietnam, Taiwan which are then processed and become part of their exports to the US. Since Taiwan, China, Vietnam are all getting hit by US tariffs it means even more Malaysian exports will be impacted. Its a snowball effect.

So far the gomen has not made any comments. The MITI fellow is possibly scratching his nuts. The hardware shop mouse sits on its nuts and screws. The kampong mouse sits on its beans and peas. 

Say something lah woi. The gomen must know what to do.

The Vietnamese have already begun cutting their tariffs on American imports. Malaysia must do the same. We are imposing (average?) 47% tariffs on American goods. Chop it down to 24% - match the American tariffs. Or go lower. Then Donald Trump says he will reciprocate.

Donald Trump only wants to save American jobs and ensure that American industry does not fall victim to unfair trade practises.

• We tax America 47% it is good for the world economy. Really? Is that so?
• The US taxes us 24% the world will end, kiamat akan tiba, the sky is falling?
  
• Pi dah mabuk.

If we cut import tariffs the Malaysian consumer should benefit first. Especially for products that we do not manufacture in Malaysia anyway. 

But not always. Malaysia is the World's No. 1 Gomen Licensed Monopoly And Oligopoly Economy.

If we cut tariffs on the import of American made automobiles, will the selling price of American cars decrease? The quick answer is NO.

The gomen licensed bumi quota or GLC oligopolies which import American cars  will find it cheaper to import the American cars (if the tariffs are lower). But they will maintain the high selling prices to the Malaysian consumer. WHY? Because they are gomen licensed monopolies and oligopolies. They control the market. The Malaysian consumer has little choice. 

So if the tariffs are lowered, the oligopoly/monopoly, bumi quota car importers will enjoy much bigger profit margins while the Malaysian consumer does not see any benefits from the lower tariffs. Please abolish the monopolies, oligopolies and the quotas.

But back to the thousands of Malaysian jobs at risk - which issue gets more votes? Gaza, stoking tulisan Arab or US tariffs?

The hardware shop mouse sits on its nuts and screws. 
The kampong mouse sits on its beans and peas.

JANJI BULAN BINTANG? WHERE IS THE RM2,500 AND RM5,000? WHICH WAY TO GAZA? ANY PALESTINIANS INVOLVED?

 

 

 

MALAYSIA WHACKING 47% IMPORT TARIFFS AGAINST AMERICAN PRODUCTS !! PLUS THE MAGIC NUMBER 15%.

 

It looks like President Donald Trump is true to his word. Mr Trump calls April 2nd 2025 'Liberation Day' when the United States of America frees itself from being economically bullied by the rest of the world.  President Trump is referring to the tariffs (or import taxes / cukai impot) levied by the rest of the world on American products imported into their countries. 

Here are two tabulations of the tariffs paid on imported American goods (into these other countries) PLUS Mr Trumps new tariffs against those countries. 

In the first chart the new American tariffs against other countries are ranked from highest to lowest. The highest American tariffs against these other countries start with Cambodia which has been hit with  49% tariffs. Laos, Madagascar, Vietnam, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are in the Top 6 with tariffs above 40%.

Why has Cambodia been hit with such a high tariff? Because Cambodia in turn has been imposing a 97% (NINETY SEVEN PERCENT TARIFF !!) against American goods coming into Cambodia. 

So Cambodia has been imposing a 97% tariff and now Donald Trump has "reciprocated" with a 49% tariff on Cambodia.

I say Tuan-Tuan yang dihormati, do you think that is fair - lets say from an Islamic point of view of adala or adil or justice. Is it adil or fair for one country to impose 49% tariff on another country when the other country is already imposing a 97% tariff on the first country?

Shouldnt it be equal tariffs? You impose 97% tariff on my products so I will impose 97% tariffs on your products?

Note that there are 21 countries (the white colour boxes, Morocco to UK - including Singapore) where Mr Trump has imposed a minimum tariff of 10% only against those countries. WHY? Because these countries also impose the minimum tariffs against imports from the United States of America.

You can see this in this second table here:

 

China imposes 67% import tariffs on American products so Donald Trump has imposed a 34% tariff on Chinese products.

The European Union imposes 39% tariffs on America so now America has imposed 20% tariffs on the EU.

Malaysia imposes 47% tariffs on American imports so now the US has imposed 24% tariffs on Malaysian goods.

Singapore imposes ONLY 10% tariffs on American goods so now the US has imposed only 10% tariffs on Singapore. 

So what will happen now? Investors (foreign and domestic) who depend on selling their products in the American market will either move their factories to the United States or they will open factories in those countries which pay the least tariffs to export to America. 

For example Singapore, Australia, Morocco, almost the whole of South America, New Zealand are charged only 10% tariffs to sell their exports into the American market. So these countries will become attractive for any new factories that wish to export to the American market. Bye bye Cambodia (49%), bye bye Malaysia (47%).

So the question now is can Cambodia and Malaysia live without "low tariff" access to the American market? Can Cambodia and Malaysia sell their products elsewhere in the world?

Here are the stock market charts for the past one week. The Japanese Nikkei Index and our KL Index have gone down.

 

 But over in New York the Dow Jones has been moving up the past five trading days.

 

Should Malaysia and Cambodia lower our tariffs? This is a stupid question. Of course we should all lower our tariffs. The whole world should go down to just one standard Magic Number 15%.  

But there is a twist. If we lower our tariffs (which we should anyway) will President Trump lower American tariffs against our products? This is a dicey question.

Mr Donald Trump and his closest advisers and Cabinet members are inclining towards ZERO personal income taxes on American citizens. And maybe zero corporate taxes on American corporations. Donald Trump is slowly but surely shutting down the US Department of Education (Ministry of Education). They have shutdown US AID. They want to shut down other "Ministries" as well. They also want to shut down the IRS or the Inland Revenue Service (Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri). 

So how will the US government manage its affairs? Well first of all the size of the US government will become very small. Just a few 'departments' like Defense, Customs, Immigration to keep the country going.

And they will be funded by tariff collection on imported goods.  THIS MEANS DONALD TRUMP WILL MAINTAIN TARIFFS AGAINST OTHER COUNTRIES.

Who actually pays these tariffs? It is the American consumer. So the American "citizen" has an option - if you dont want to pay tariffs on imported goods then Buy American products. Make America Great Again (MAGA). There are no tariffs on American products Made in America.

If you want to buy imported goods, the the American consumer must pay the import tariffs. 

Will there be price hikes in the US. Yes and no. Yes because if imported goods become more expensive, then it is actually a protective barrier to benefit American manufacturers. American manufacturers can increase their selling prices until just a few US Dollars below the high tariff imports. They can be lazier and still make high profits. Less effort but more money. So no need to work so hard. And they can bully the American consumer.

This is what happened to Proton (before Geely). 

But also possibly NO price hikes in America. America is not Malaysia. America is a very open and extremely competitive economy. It is possible that despite Donald Trump's tariff protection the stiff competition in the American economy can generate products that are actually cheaper than China or Malaysia. This has happened before in the 1980s/90s when some American cars became cheaper to produce than imported Japanese cars. 

The American economy, the largest economy in the world, is a different cup of tea altogether. Do not underestimate the American people.

In other words the US economy might benefit from all these tariff hikes - if they remain competitive.

Lets digress a little. So what happened to the UN, GATT, WTO, TPPA, NAFTA, bla bla. (United Nations, General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade, World Trade Organisation, Trans Pacific Partnership Bullshit, North American Free Trade Area Bullshit etc?) So what has happened to all that?

Dear reader, do you know what those organisations and agreements really mean? They really mean tahi ayam or chicken shit.  That is what they are - just chicken shit organisations and chicken shit agreements which we too wasted our time being a part of.

Lets digress a little bit more. Do you know that since 1978 (that is 47 years ago) there has been a United Nations "peace keeping mission" in Lebanon. It is called UNIFIL or the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. This is a joke. Peacekeeping their backsides. Since 1978 there have been so many wars in Lebanon. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. The latest is the Hezbollah war against Israel that began in October 2023 and the consequent Israeli attack against the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Now the conflict has spilled over into Syria.

And for decades now, our country has maintained a Malaysian Battalion in Lebanon. MALBATT stands for the Malaysian military battalion that serves overseas, as part of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force. 

• I say Tuan-Tuan, what the hell for? 
• Has MALBAT stopped the Hezbollah from shooting rockets into Israel? 
• Has MALBAT stopped Israel from wiping out southern Lebanon? 
• The answer is no. 
• If you have problems hearing the answer is  NO, NO, NO, NO !!

So how many more decades is it going to take for our kampong boys to understand this? But please do not underestimate our kampong boys. They are not that stupid. They can understand this quite well. I am quite sure that for decades now some retired g*n*rals and others are possibly making money from outsourced logistics and supply contracts to keep our MALBAT operating in Lebanon. There must be big enough money involved.

UNIFIL IS JUST WASTING TIME. JUST BRING THEM HOME. WASTING OUR MONEY. 

Back to our story today - we should just lower ALL our import tariffs, import duties, import levies, import excises etc  to just 15 % (FIFTEEN PERCENT). This shall be our MAGIC NUMBER - 15%.

Singapore and the US impose only 10% import TARIFFS on each other. 21 countries around the world are doing this (on American imports). Meaning they can survive on just 10% import tax earnings to keep their governments running. To pay the salaries of the Civil Servants, to pay for the Navy, Customs Department etc. Malaysia should do the same.

The smuggling industry will also die a natural death. Which smuggler wants to risk his neck trying to smuggle anything if the import tariff is just 15%? You want to go to jail just for 15%? And this means corruption in the Customs Department will also disappear overnite. Why bribe the Customs fellows with an extra 10% when you only have to pay 15% import tariff? The gomen also need not spend money on new Customs offices, buying new speedboats to chase smugglers or increasing Customs enforcement officials. The savings to the gomen and to the Malaysian economy will run into the tens of billions of Ringgit.

And we should also impose one standard rate of 15% for income taxes and corporate taxes in Malaysia. No need for different personal income tax brackets, no need for 26% corporate taxes, no need for 8% Sales Taxes, etc. Tak payah. JUST ONE MAGIC NUMBER - 15% for the whole country, across the entire economy. 

And here is a real nightmare scenario. After Donald Trump's FOUR YEARS, it is most likely that JD Vance (the Vice President now) will become the next US President. Even if it is not JD Vance it will still be a non-woke, anti-immigfation, white Republican president. So for the next 12 years it is going to be non-woke, anti-immigration, white, Republicanism in America.

Lets say they abolish personal income taxes in America (or cut it down drastically). Lets say they abolish corporate taxes in America (they are debating this) or cut it down drastically. Then what will happen?

What will happen is that every factory from China to Zimbabwe will pack up and relocate to America. 

• What will happen to Malaysia then? 
• Maybe we can still operate halal Air BnB in Langkawi.  
• Maybe those Arabs who survive all their fighting will come.
  

• Tuan-Tuan boleh faham ke? 
• Reti baca omputih tak? 
• There is a real world out there which is changing very fast.
• Tuan-Tuan jangan tersadai bawah jambatan Sungai Klang.
  

THE BRITISH WAR AGAINST RUSSIA, GERMANY (AND UKRAINE)

Here is Emil Cosman again (about three years too late) with his discovery that the British were not only on the ground in Ukraine (since 2022) but the Brits are behind all the major attacks like the attack against the Crimean Bridge (the Kerch Bridge), blowing up the Nordstream 2 pipeline, the Himars attack, the repeated attacks against the Zaphorizhia nuclear power plant and others. I strongly believe the British also closely planned and executed the sinking of the Russian battle-cruiser Moskva in the first few days of the war in April 2022 (its so like the sinking of the old Argentine battle-wagon the Belgrano in the first few days of the Falklands War of 1982).

 

From the day this war began in 2022, I have been calling it the British War against Germany and Russia. And this was before the Brits blew up the Nordtream 2 pipeline in September 2022. Since they blew up Nordtsream 2 the German economy has been crippled.

Anyway here is Emil Cosman:

 

 

The Globalists Are Spreading Corruption - Marine Le Pen Sentenced To "Stay Out Of The French Presidential Elections".

 

 

 

 

Marine Le Pen, the common sensical and gritty leader of French politics who is almost certain to win the next presidential polls in 2027 has been sentenced to 'stay out of the French presidential elections'. 

Two days ago a French court handed down a weird sentence on Madame Le Pen. She was sentenced to four years jail for "corruption", of which two years have been suspended. The remaining two years will be under 'house arrest' where she will have to stay inside her house while wearing an electronic ankle bracelet for two years.

(This is a very bad mistake because for the next two years Mdm Le Pen can proudly show off her ankle bracelet to the Media and make the government of Emmanuele Macron look really stupid. They are really going to regret this. It is really bad optics).  

The case against her is equally silly. The case against her began EIGHT years ago in 2017 when Mdm Le Pen was accused of

"improperly using European Parliament funds to pay her parliamentary assistants for work they allegedly did not perform. The amount of money involved in these allegations was approximately €340,000. The charges were related to payments made by the European Parliament to fund the salaries of assistants to MEPs (Members of the European Parliament). Mdm Le Pen denied the allegations, stating that the payments were legitimate and part of the political work of her party". 

In the European system, a really confused system of dual-government, political parties stand for elections at least TWICE. One is election to the local Parliament like Parliament in Holland or the Bundestag in Germany. Then they also stand for elections to the European Parliament which is based in Brussels in Belgium.

So the same politician, belonging to the same party, being located in the same constituency, in the same country, working from the same office or premises, using the same staff  but answers to two different Parliaments - one in his or her own country and the other one being the European Parliament located in Brussels.

The European Parliament gives budget allocations to its Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to run their offices and campaigns. So the charges against Mdm Le Pen (since 2017) was that she had used the 340,000 Euros from her allocation to pay the salaries of her office staff  but the staff were not doing the work exclusively for the European Parliament. They were doing other work as well, but still related to her party the National Rally. This is where the corruption charges came in.

Yesterday I heard a comment that there are 705 Members of the European Parliament throughout the 31 members of the European Union. If each and everyone of those 705 MEPs were audited for the usage of European Parliament funds perhaps all of them can be sentenced to jail for the same "offense". 

All this is just a lame excuse.  Mdm Le Pen is strongly anti-establishment. Worse than that her party has swept the 2024 European Parliament polls in France. Her National Rally has won the most number of French seats to the European Parliament. 

In the 2024 European Parliament elections, the National Rally (Rassemblement National, RN), secured 30 out of France's 81 seats, representing 31.37% of the vote.

And Mdm Le Pen is well positioned to win the French presidential polls in 2027. The British poodle Macron's latest popularity poll in France is now at below 21% !!

Mdm Le Pen has committed an even greater sin - she is pro Russia and anti EU. She must be stopped at all costs.

But even the corrupt French courts (yes they are corrupt)  could not be too hard on her - two years suspended sentence, two more years house arrest wearing an ankle bracelet and a 100,000 Euro fine.

But that is not what they wanted or care about too much. The French court also slapped a FIVE YEAR ban on Mdm Le Pen from running for public office.  This can keep her out of the presidential race - forever. This is what they really wanted.

Mdm Le Pen will appeal her ridiculous conviction. She may yet succeed. My advice to her is keep showing that ankle bracelet to the French Media. Really embarrass the French government. Make them look stupid.

She should renovate her house and fix some iron bars on her windows. Then the French Media can take pictures of her locked up behind bars inside her own house. In France even your own home can be turned into a prison.

FRIDAY NOTES (27/12/2024) FROM THE QURAN : THE SUNNATULLAH DOES NOT CHANGE

Non-Muslims can skip this. But it is really very brief. Two minutes reading max.

Today I tried something new. I have begun using Chat GPT for some of my research and writing. Chat GPT is the AI Search engine. But you have to double check it very carefully.

Today for this Friday column I typed in "Sunnatullah verses in the Quran" and within seconds the following popped up. 

I had to do plenty editing because Chat GPT threw up verses which did not mention the word Sunnatullah.   And then Chat GPT tried to explain that those verses were also part of the concept of Sunnatullah.  

To me that is stretching things too far. If the word that I am searching for (eg sunnatullah) is NOT found in that verse then dont say it is. It will only lead to unnecessary argument.

The Chat GPT AI is just a Search tool.  It does not think for itself. It merely sources what others have said about a topic and strings it together.   It is not free of 'garbage in and garbage out'. Especially about religious topics.  So I have to read and edit the material.

In the Quran, the term "Sunnatullah" (سنة الله) or 'sunnah of Allah'  often implies the natural laws that govern the universe. The "Sunnah of Allah" refers to the principles by which Allah manages His creation.

Here are two verses in the Quran where the concept of 'Sunnatullah' (the way or law of Allah) is mentioned:

1. Surah Al-Ahzab (33:62)  - "This is the way of Allah (سنة الله), which has occurred in the past. And you will never find in the way of Allah (سنة الله) any change." -  Translation (Sahih International).

This verse speaks of the unchanging nature of the principles that govern the world which remain constant. It cannot change.

2. Surah Al-Fath (48:23) -  "Such has been the practice of Allah already with those who have passed away. And you will never find in the practice of Allah any change" -  Translation (Sahih International).

This verse reinforces the idea that Allah’s methods or laws are consistent across time and cannot be changed.  After the sun sets, we go to sleep at night with great confidence that the sun will rise again tomorrow morning.

What all this means is that after coming into being and everything in the universe has been set in order, the Creation cannot change haphazardly. If there is change, and most certainly there is change (like the seasons change from spring, summer, fall and winter) it will happen according to the Laws of the Universe.

But things like these cannot happen :

 

Elephants walk on the ground and there is no Superman. Flying elephants and Superman are domains of the imagination.

CHINESE FREIGHT TRAIN POPS ANOTHER SURPRISE - 6TH GENERATION JET.

 

China has done it again. Now China introduces some new science, some new technology and its manifestation - some new industrial product almost every other week. Otherwise known as Made in China. This week the aviation industry is buzzing with China's 'introduction' of a really unimaginable 6th generation fighter-bomber aircraft. The plane flew in the open and someone captured it on video. The aviation geeks are going wild. 

The plane is huge. It has no name yet. It is about 60 feet wide. That is three terrace houses wide. The length is slightly over 60 feet as well. And the plane has THREE engines in a row - unheard of before.  And listen to this - there are TWO air intakes on the sides and a THIRD air intake on top of the plane. 

Here is a quickie on what is a 6th generation fighter jet, and then a short video that shows the actual plane flying in the air. 

Key components of 6th generation technology are:

• Stealth: More advanced, multi-spectrum stealth technologies.
• Autonomy: Significant integration of AI and potentially uncrewed operations.
• Sensors: Enhanced sensor fusion and interconnected data-sharing between platforms.
• Propulsion: More efficient, advanced engines for sustained supersonic flight and better fuel economy.
• Weapons: Potential for directed energy weapons (lasers) and hypersonic munitions.
• EW & Cyber: Enhanced electronic warfare and cyber capabilities.
• Operations: Crewed or optionally-crewed missions with potential for fully autonomous flights.
• Range and Endurance: Improved operational range, longer loiter times, and better mission endurance.

Here is a short video. 

 

Conclusion : No other country in the world can even come close to what the Chinese have flown in the sky. The plane is already flying and has been captured on video. They will fine tune the hardware and the manufacturing processes. They will also load up the electronics arrays, the weapons systems, the AI etc.

Here is my prediction - in say five years this plane will become outdated. The Chinese follow this philosophy - the latest model in operation now, the next upgrade already at advanced design or prototype stage and the third generation on the drawing boards.  The Chinese philosophy is to continuously improve.

Recall what I posted earlier about Chinese EVs taking over the world automotive market.  Since my post Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi have announced that they are merging. Mitsondasan? Honisubishi? 

Its too late.