Mahathir in Tokyo, Japan

At the 30th edition of the annual Nikkei Forum: Future of Asia, in Tokyo Japan, I was asked on a variety of issues. The main issue on everyone's minds and interests are the impact of Trump's tariffs. I told the audience that I had given three months to Trump to roll back on his tariffs as the Americans will soon realise that the impact of the tariffs is actually on their domestic market where prices of imports will be costly. At some point he has to revise his ideas. Already, electronic devices are being exempted and the US Courts are challenging the validity of the President's authority in imposing the tariffs. As for the impact on Malaysia and Asean, it is obvious that there will be a dip as trade with the US is significant. But Asean should look at increasing trade with other countries to mitigate the impact. On the other hand, Trump will not last forever as the President, he will have to leave office at some point. On India, I think it will continue to grow but not as f...