Trump’s Secret Trade Deals with Malaysia and Cambodia Revealed: Imperialist Bullying on Behalf of Big Tech, Other Corporate Interests
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Donald Trump travels through Asia, he has been attempting to win applause for trade deals inked over the weekend with Malaysia and Cambodia. As these deals were negotiated under a complete shroud of secrecy, the American people have had no input into the substance of these deals. An early review of the texts reveals new handouts to Big Tech and other corporate interests, with little to nothing that will help working people in the U.S. While we will continue to analyze the texts, below are some initial takeaways.
While trade deals have historically been loaded with provisions harmful to developing countries, in general, those rules at least apply to all signatory countries equally. These latest pacts, however, have achieved new levels of imperialist bullying. The Malaysia and Cambodia deals assign a laundry list of requirements on both countries to change domestic laws and practices with practically no requirements on the U.S. side. Though there is a lot of binding language, the deals do not include any enforcement mechanisms or penalties, so it is unclear how meaningful any of the commitments really are. And, basically, Trump could decide at any time to raise tariffs on Malaysia and Cambodia again.
The biggest winners from these agreements appear to be Big Tech CEOs, as Malaysia and Cambodia will be required to repeal or refrain from enacting an array of policies that seek to check Big Tech’s runaway power.
- They are prohibited from imposing taxes on digital service providers operating within their borders or customs duties on electronic transmissions, implying that Big Tech companies will continue to avoid paying their fair share, despite profiting off of users in these countries
- They may not require review of algorithms and source code as a condition for market access, limiting efforts to enhance transparency and accountability of software and AI systems. This makes citizens less safe, as demonstrated for instance, by Volkswagen selling millions of cars with emissions cheating software.
- They are prohibited from regulating exports of data, exposing their citizens’ personal information to misuse.
- Because U.S. tech giants have cornered various digital markets so thoroughly, any attempt to regulate the digital ecosystem could be construed to be discriminatory because any such laws will primarily impact them. Thus, trade pact text prohibiting “discriminatory” digital laws puts at risk competition policies, revenue-sharing requirements, various taxes, and obligations for social media platforms to monitor and remove illegal and dangerous content.
The agreements require these Asian countries to accept imports that meet U.S. FDA and other health and safety requirements forbidding them to require any additional standards, despite Robert Kennedy Jr. and his MAHA mania undermining our health standards at every turn.
- Malaysia and Cambodia must automatically accept without question all U.S. standards and practices around medical devices, agricultural food safety, meat and poultry disease management, and genetically modified foods.
- The deals ban so-called “non-scientific” health and safety policies, which is trade speak for policies that are more precautionary than the corporate-maximalist U.S. approach.
- Malaysia may not suspend a U.S. exporter’s shipments until there have been “multiple instances” of pesticide residue over U.S. and internationally recognized safety levels.
- Malaysia, a majority-Muslim country, must accept U.S. certifications of Halal food and potentially lift restrictions on importation of certain alcoholic drinks.
The deals put requirements on Malaysia and Cambodia that are harmful to their sovereignty and development goals.
- Malaysia may not restrict exports of its own minerals, which is a common tool to support a country moving beyond a low-income, extraction-based economy.
- For both countries, the deals prohibit restrictions on imports of refurbished or second-hand goods. Many countries have seen the harm that imports of cheap, second-hand goods can have on domestic industries, including textile and clothing production. Countries should be free to take actions to support domestic industries and not be forced to accept rich countries’ fast-fashion waste.
- These deals even put restrictions on the positions Malaysia and Cambodia may take in international fora like the World Trade Organization, and on the terms of agreements they enter into with other countries, for example on health and safety. They specifically allow the U.S. to have the final say on digital trade agreements that Malaysia and Cambodia sign with third parties. (The U.S. makes no such “reciprocal” commitments to Malaysia or Cambodia.)
- Malaysia and Cambodia must align their export control measures and sanctions, with those imposed by the U.S.
The deals do nothing to meaningfully address the “race to the bottom” that has harmed U.S. workers or to protect public interest safeguards.
- Provisions around labor and environmental standards may look good on paper, but they are meaningless without enforcement. This means that multinational corporations can continue to offshore U.S. jobs to take advantage of exploitation of workers and environmental degradation.
- Despite all the new obligations, there is a tiny footnote that says, “Malaysia has the right to regulate in the public interest.” We have seen time and again that exceptions like this are completely insufficient. In the WTO’s nearly 30 years of existence, in 46 out of 48 cases, governments were unsuccessful in using a similar “general exception” to defend domestic policies challenged as illegal. Even this paltry footnote is not present in the Cambodia deal.