Malaysia warns Chinese firms from using it as a base to ‘rebadge’ to avoid US tariffs

Malaysia has urged Chinese companies to refrain from using it as a base to “rebadge” products to avoid US tariffs, its deputy trade minister said on Monday, amid increasing export restrictions and concerns of a US-China trade war.

Washington is expected to further curb exports to Chinese semiconductor toolmakers and sales of certain chipmaking equipment, including products manufactured in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, sources have said.

Malaysia is a major player in the semiconductor industry, accounting for 13 per cent of global testing and packaging, and is seen as well-placed to grab further business in the sector as Chinese chip firms diversify overseas for assembling needs.

“Over the past year or so … I have been advising many businesses from China not to invest in Malaysia if they were merely thinking of rebadging their products via Malaysia to avoid US tariffs,” Malaysia’s deputy trade minister Liew Chin Tong told a forum on Monday.

He did not specify the types of businesses.

Liew said regardless of whether the US had a Democratic or Republican administration, the world’s largest economy would impose tariffs, as seen in the solar panel sector.