Did US "cheated and ripped-off" Malaysia by hiding services surplus?

Donald Trump's administration slapped Malaysia with a 24% export tariff and additional tariff for solar panels. The argument he has been paddling is countries with surplus merchandise trade .... repeat again merchandise trade have been cheating the US and ripping them off.

Malaysia's merchandise trade surplus against the US was US$24.8 billion for 2024. However, the missing part of the full trade equation is the services trade. 

US government do not release any official data detailing the services side of trade balance. As an indication, Malaysia's invisible trade deficit has improved to RM13.9 for 2024, but the year earlier in 2023, the deficit was RM43.2 billion. 

The US is the leading exporter of services globally with total services exports reaching approximately $1.1 trillion in 2024.  It is obviously in favour of the US. If having a surplus is a sin, then who is cheating and ripping-off who?

What to Know About India and Pakistan’s Escalating Tensions in Kashmir

Soldiers at the India and Pakistan border at Wagah perform a flag-lowering ceremony in front of cheering crowds each evening

by RAJESH ROY and AIJAZ HUSSAIN / AP

Time.com Apr 25, 2025 4:30 PM SST

NEW DELHI — A deadly attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir has again moved India and Pakistan closer to war as the two rivals downgraded diplomatic and trade ties, closed the main border crossing and revoked visas for each other’s nationals.

Pakistan has denied it was behind Tuesday’s attack that killed 26 mostly Indian tourists at a scenic spot in the Himalayan region, where India claimed it restored a sense of calm despite a decades long rebellion. A previously unknown militant group calling itself Kashmir Resistance has claimed responsibility for the attack.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety. Here’s what to know about an escalation in tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Health hazard of late supper and nightly "lepak"

Friday frontpage of The Star reads:

One-third of Malaysian adults and 40% of adolescents have a heavy supper weekly, which leads to obesity, according to a survey. The Health Ministry warns that late suppers, with excessive sugar and salts, can be harmful.

Having to undergo various illness in this late age, partly attributed to diet issues in our youth and adulthood related to lifestyle and nature of work, the hazard to health from late supper and Malaysian nightly "lepak" culture  should not be ignored. 

Its those simple pleasures that will come back to haunt later in life and make the twilight of your life unbearable. 

A word of an advice from the wisdom of experience worthy to impart to the younger Malaysians, "Be conscious of the effect of diet and lifestyle to one's health."

The articles from Friday Star as follows:

Not 100 days yet, but suffered badly in series of polls

Trump Approval Rating Tracker: Worst Economic Reviews In Years, Latest Poll Finds

Sara Dorn Forbes Staff

Sara Dorn is a Forbes news reporter who covers politics.

Apr 23, 2025,03:58pm EDT

TOPLINE President Donald Trump’s received some of his lowest marks on his handling of the economy in years in a string of new surveys this week, as most polls show Americans broadly reject his sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listen as President Donald Trump speaks from the Oval Office on Wednesday, April 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

TIMELINE

April 23

Five including Tan Sri and Dato Seri in MBI-linked arrest and forfeiture

This just came in today at 3:48 PM. Its linked to the this blog's alert dated April 11th entitled "Opposition-linked MBI arrest prior to Xi Jinpeng visit". 

Since there is a major arrest, might as well reveal the person is Dato Eddie Ong of Hexstar, Perak Transit and Opcom. 

A Facebooker commented on Monday of Eddie Ong in a hurry to dispose off assets to Widad, a PLC close to the Kedah Menteri Besar, Dato Sanusi Md Noor. Its too late and go dig up the opposition leader linked to Eddie Ong. 

Malay Mail Online reported: 

Bukit Aman: ‘Tan Sri’ and ‘Datuk Seri’ among five more arrested in MBI scam as cops seize RM3.5b in assets including three durian orchards

Xi's advice: "Sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit"

Between the lines of Xi's visit

LETTERS  

The Star, Saturday, 19 Apr 2025 8:00 AM MYT

ON the eve of President Xi Jinping’s arrival in Kuala Lumpur, Donald Trump had a message for Vietnam, where Xi had just concluded a visit: “They’re probably trying to screw the United States.”

It was as fashionably boorish as it was predictably accusatory. Yet, in its own capricious way, the remark captured a broader truth: The geopolitical contest between the United States and China has become more intense, more zero-sum, and more difficult for others to navigate.

For Malaysia, this sharpening rivalry has turned what might once have been a ceremonially significant state visit into a high-stakes diplomatic feat. Xi’s presence in Malaysia from April 15 to 17 was choreographed to a T and deeply symbolic.

But the backdrop – of tariffs, tantrums and tectonic global shifts – ensured that the subtext mattered just as much as the spectacle.

Trump bring chaos, Xi bring trade: What would be Malaysia's choice?

Xi Jinping did not attend the invitation from Anwar Ibrahim for 50 year bilateral celebration last year, but he did not forget to mention of the hope for 50 golden years more of Malaysia-China relation as he  touchdown yesterday.

China has always been in for the long play since Tun Razak visited China in 1974 to be received by Chairman Mao Tse Tong in the height of the cold war between West and the Communists. The benefit from the long years of bilateral relation is coming to fruitation with the belt and road, which remains the main benefit from the relation.

Since the establishment of the Peoples' Republic of China, they were struggling to feed and take their more than 1 billion population out of poverty. Today they are an economic superpower and miraculously within one generation managed to raise the living standard of the majority of its population. 

Doing business with China is a challenge. They could do what others are doing and better. There is nothing much an export-driven economy like Malaysia could export to China. The trade situation with China favours them over the surplus with the US. .   

Trump bringing in tariff and chaos, while China offers trade and dependability. What is there for Malaysia to not prefer for China. During the financial crisis of 1997-2000, China is the unseen rock that helped Malaysia stand back up its feet. 

'Flowing water cannot be severed' - How Xi Jinping promotes China-Malaysia friendship

By Xinhua Writer ZHAO BOCHAO

BEIJING (Xinhua): Over three decades ago, when Xi Jinping, then the top official of China's southeastern city of Fuzhou, visited Malaysia on an investment promotion trip, he found himself deeply impressed by two symbolic sites.

One is the Poh San Teng Temple, a long-standing homage to renowned Chinese navigator Zheng He (1371-1433) of the Ming Dynasty. The other is the city of Sibu, which became known as "New Fuzhou" after Wong Nai Siong, a Fuzhou native, migrated to Malaysia with over 1,000 Chinese people more than a century ago.

Both places testify to the millennium-old China- Malaysia friendship, a bond Xi has repeatedly pledged to inherit and cement as China's head of state. During a 2013 visit to Malaysia, he quoted a local proverb to illustrate the commitment: "Flowing water cannot be severed."

It was also during that Southeast Asia tour to Indonesia and Malaysia that Xi invoked again the legacy of Zheng He and put forward the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, an essential component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Now as Xi travels to Malaysia for a new state visit, the two nations are poised to further build on their time-honored friendship and fruitful cooperation, and steer bilateral relations toward a more promising shared future in the new era.

Opposition-linked MBI arrest prior to Xi Jin Peng visit

Chinese President, Xi Jin Peng will be making a three day official visit of Malaysia next week April 15th to 17th. 

He was extended an invitation for the 50 year anniversary of Malaysia - China bilateral relation, however was represented instead by Prime Minister Li Qiang in June last year. 

The visit in the midst of Trump triggered trade war to isolate China will draw attention from the foreign media and the US. 

Certain quarter of Malaysians are getting cold feet and urge Anwar to reschedule the visit. Surprisingly its mostly Malaysian Chinese. And, there is certain segment of older generation Malays still stuck in the past to view China and DAP as communist. 

Leading to Xi's, whether by design or coincident, there have been major arrests related to China's most wanted scammer, Malaysian Tedy Teow of MBI fame. The victims of his billion ringgit scam have mostly been Chinese national. [Read the recent past postings.]

Today, another arrest was reported noon time by The Star, reproduced below:

Why Steven Sim in a hurry to dissociate from Tan Kean Soon?

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

― Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Too many incidents happened during the last few weeks of Ramadhan. 

Racial temperature was rising following resistance of an illegal Hindu temple on Jakel's land in the Masjid India area to relocate. Then the random punching incident against an Axia driver. 

Mineral water and stinky bean sellers went amuck, and thug-like manner by DBKL enforcement officers on unlicensed balloon seller. These incidents, which are raising hatred against local authorities, inspired a philosophical social media commentator to quote Lenin. 

Talk of a coup d'etat after Hari Raya ended when Ismail Sabri was nabbed and in the early part of Ramadhan. Yet through out Ramadhan the political agenda setting continued.

There was the Sapura bailout or not polemic. Hamzah Zainuddin appeared on Keluar Sekejap to stir-up UMNO grassroot. The motherload meant to be political conversation during Raya was the RM1 billion lawsuit by Hydroshoppe. But, Putra Heights gas leak that caused a massive explosion on the second day of Hari Raya deviated attention.

With too many developments, the mysterious arrest of a highly connected oil and gas corporate figure  by police allegedly for case fixing scam missed the media and public radar.