JUST IN: Malaysia just declared the U.S.-Malaysia trade deal null and void.
Not suspended. Not under review. Null and void.
“It is not on hold. It is no longer there.” Those are the words of Malaysia’s Investment, Trade and Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani. On the record. This week.
The deal was signed five months ago in Kuala Lumpur by President Trump and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the ASEAN Summit. It cut tariffs from 47 percent to 19 percent. It was presented as proof that reciprocal trade works. It was the template.
It no longer exists.
The trigger was a Supreme Court ruling on February 20 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. The Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorise presidential tariffs. IEEPA was the legal foundation beneath virtually every reciprocal tariff deal the administration signed. The Court pulled the foundation. Malaysia looked at the structure standing on nothing and walked away.
No other country has done this yet. But fifteen nations are now under new Section 301 investigations launched March 11 and 12, covering structural excess capacity across sixteen economies and forced labour practices across sixty. The USTR pivoted to Section 301 within weeks of the ruling because it is the only remaining statutory vehicle for broad tariff authority. The pivot tells you the administration knows the legal ground shifted.
The question every trade desk should be asking this morning is not whether Malaysia matters. Malaysia covers 12 percent of its exports to the US under the deal. The question is who follows.
Every reciprocal trade agreement signed under IEEPA authority between 2025 and February 2026 now sits on the same voided legal foundation. Every counterparty government has the same option Malaysia just exercised. Every trade minister in every capital that signed one of these deals is reading the same Supreme Court opinion and asking the same question: is our agreement still enforceable?
The answer, as of February 20, is that the legal basis no longer exists. The deals were signed under authority the Court has since ruled the President did not have. Malaysia is the first government to say that out loud. It will not be the last.
The cascade risk is not theoretical. Roughly $500 billion in annual US trade flows run through the nations now under Section 301 investigation or bound by IEEPA-era reciprocal agreements. If even a fraction of those counterparties follow Malaysia’s precedent, the result is a simultaneous renegotiation of America’s trade architecture during a period when the Hormuz crisis is already driving energy and food inflation, the Fed is trapped at 3 percent core PCE with no room to cut, and US farmers cannot afford $900-per-ton ammonia.
Carl Quintanilla posted the headline with the kind of brevity that tells you even CNBC does not know how to frame this. Because the frame is uncomfortable. The administration built a tariff architecture on a legal authority the Supreme Court ruled it never had. The first country to notice just tore up the deal on live television.
The trade architecture, the fertiliser supply chain, the insurance market, the naval coalition, the planting calendar. One by one, the systems the global economy assumed were stable are revealing themselves as fragile.
Malaysia just pulled another thread.
https://t.co/iFmUcarGdV
E.JI of ICHILLIN' - 'Dream of You'
(Original by CHUNG HA ) Performance : Artist Portrait
🔗https://t.co/bquC4ZjK4d
무대 위에서 완성되는 아티스트의 정체성을 기록하다
Where the artist becomes complete on stage
KITZ Original Content
<Artist Portrait> : @ichillin_km E.JI
#KITZ #킷츠
#ICHILLIN #아이칠린 #E_JI #이지
[CLOSED]
• Thank you to Kiively who supported us and gave us the opportunity to support KIIRAS in this way, unfortunately many of our admins are inactive and I myself am unable to continue this account due to school.
• The account MAY re-open when my days aren’t so busy.
💕
@AboutMusicYT This is why groups like Mamamoo, (G)-Friend and Momoland will always amaze me because statistically they were meant to flop and disband because of how the KPOP system works. But no, they beat the odds and escaped a life long debt.
That happening to a non big 3 group is insane.
Malaysia has tons of unique traditions which are practiced here. Each community has its own myths and legends which they showcase in their festivals and celebrations every year.
#malaysia#diversity#cultures#tradition
There's currently a massive online war raging in South Korea against Indonesians in particular, and against ASEAN countries in general, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The conflict began after Koreans broke the law at a party in Malaysia, and it has escalated dramatically in the last two days.
In the tweet in question, a Korean posted a picture of monkeys and claimed it was an Indonesian family.
The bullying has reached incredibly vile levels, with Koreans using unimaginable vulgar language and engaging in unspeakable bullying.
Indonesians, however, have not remained silent.
The original story began after repeated complaints about the perceived arrogance of Koreans at parties in Indonesia. Koreans travel to Indonesia, attend parties, break the law, and look down on Indonesians, which finally pushed Indonesians to their breaking point and sparked the conflict.
The dispute is so significant that it has made headlines in both countries, but so far, there has been no official diplomatic intervention between the governments.