Malaysian trade under a Trump presidency

Trump’s acceptance speech at RNC hints at potential sanctions against Malaysia

Murray Hunter

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gave his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Thursday night US time, to wrap up the convention. After going through the events of the attempted assassination against him and the tragic death of former fire chief Cory Comperatore, Trump began his policy pledges.

During Trump’s policy rundown, he strongly mentioned that any country who traded and aided Iran, would be sternly dealt with through sanctions.

Last May, US Treasury officials visited Putra Jaya concerned about terror funding towards Iran. Iran is currently under sanctions from the US, which are most likely to be stepped up if a Trump administration takes office on January 26, 2025.

A little more than two months after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,100 people, the US has focused on severing the money flow to groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which are backed and funded by Iran. Brian Nelson, the visiting U.S. Treasury under-secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told a local news source, Malaysiakini, that there had been an increase in funds flowing to Iran and its so-called proxies – including Hamas – via the Malaysian financial system.

Iran has managed to keep selling its oil by secretive ship-to-ship transfers to disguise the petroleum’s provenance, thanks to countries that either don’t follow U.S. sanctions or look the other way when their waters are used for this activity, this has been alleged for many years by western news agency reports.

The U.S. says Malaysia is one of those countries being used for oil transfers as well as fundraising for groups such as Hamas, which Putra Jaya supports, to Washington’s consternation.

Trump has said that his administration will make a high priority of preventing funds going to terrorist groups, and Iran, and make efforts to prevent countries doing so under US sanctions. Those countries who assist bypassing sanctions through clandestine means will be sternly dealt with as well.

This potentially puts Malaysia at great risk of US sanctions under a Trump administration. Malaysia has already been highlighted as being a third country assisting Iranian assistance insurgency, and terror groups around the world.

Another factor that could blow up the US stance into a major issue facing Malaysia’s trade and economy is the Madani governments attitude towards the US. Malaysia’s home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in a meeting last May with US Treasury Department Under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson said “We don’t recognize any sanctions imposed by an individual country.”

If Malaysia maintains this position next year under the Trump administration, the nation may find itself on the US terror and sanctions list.