Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2025
October 26, 2025
President Trump. Well, Jamieson, perhaps you could explain this deal to the media and your counterpart also would say a couple of words to the media.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson L. Greer. Yes, I'm happy to do it. We worked very closely with the Malaysian Government during the past few months to agree to an agreement on reciprocal trade.
As you know, the United States has massive trade deficits with many countries in the world.
We do have a trade deficit with Malaysia, however, we have engaged in very constructive discussions over the past few months, and we have drafted a substantive, comprehensive agreement on reciprocal trade that will, on the one hand, address our trade deficit and also enhance trade between our two countries.
Malaysia, on—for its part, is going to be modifying its tariffs and nontariff barriers, and we intend to have a lot more trade in ag, in industry, in technology, in services. And we continue to be a great destination for the goods and services that Malaysia produces.
Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz of Malaysia. Thank you. First of all, I'd like to say thank you to both leaders and thank you to Mr. Greer. We had tough negotiations, but I believe that the agreement that we are going to witness today will mark—[inaudible]—when it comes to trade and investment with the U.S.
And I believe that, going forward with the commitment and the joint statement that we make today, we will see further improvements not just in trade relations but also investment—[inaudible].
So I'd like to say thank you, Ambassador Greer. He's been tough, but he's been fair. Thank
you.
Ambassador Greer. Thank you.
President Trump. Yeah. Thank you very much. Great honor. Good stuff. [At this point, the agreement was signed.]
President Trump. Okay. That's a very interesting signature. [Laughter]
Prime Minister Anwar. Not as interesting as yours. [Laughter]
President Trump. It's a very interesting signature he's got. Wait a minute, I'll show you. Look at his signature. How interesting is that? [Laughter] Right? It's very different. It's very
good. Very artistic, actually.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you, too. Congratulations. Congratulations, and thank you Jamieson, great job.
Appreciate it. Marco, thank you very much.
U.S. Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley. The second agreement, on critical minerals, Mr. President.
President Trump. Okay.
Ambassador Crowley. Right here, sir. [The agreement was signed.]
Q. Can you tell us about this one, Mr. President or Ambassador Greer?
Ambassador Greer. This agreement on critical minerals—this ensures that trade investment in critical mineral between Malaysia and the United States can be as free as possible and as resilient as possible.
We live in a world where having these critical minerals is important to our manufacturing, to our technology, to our economy, and it's very important that we cooperate as willing partners with each other to ensure that we can have food supply chains, secure supply chains for the quality of life for our people and security of our economies.
President Trump. Okay.
Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Johari Abdul Ghani of Malaysia. We are looking forward—[inaudible]. Thank you.
President Trump. Right. Okay?
Thank you very much. Now we're going to the ASEAN.
Prime Minister Anwar. Yes, ASEAN.
President Trump. And we're going to have a lot of different leaders. We'll be with them for a little while, and then we'll stay here tonight, and we'll head off to a very beautiful country tomorrow. We have some very good, interesting deals, as you know, that we made.
And then, the following day, we—as you know, we meet President Xi of China.
Prime Minister Anwar. Yes. We'll all be there.
President Trump. And that should be—are you going to be there?
Prime Minister Anwar. Yes, APEC meeting.
President Trump. Oh, good. At APEC, yes. So it will be a—it's quite a period. It's quite an interesting time, isn't it?
Prime Minister Anwar. Mm-hmm. Thank you.
President Trump. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody.
NOTE: The President spoke at 1:41 p.m. at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on October 27. A portion of these remarks could not be verified because the audio was incomplete.
Categories: Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : Malaysia, Prime Minister Anwar.
Locations: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Names: Anwar Ibrahim; Crowley, Monica; Greer, Jamieson L.; Johari Abdul Ghani; Rubio, Marco A.; Xi Jinping; Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Tengku.
Subjects: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC); Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); China, President; Critical minerals, supply chain improvements; Malaysia, Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry; Malaysia, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities;
Malaysia, President Trump's visit; Malaysia, Prime Minister; Malaysia, trade with U.S.; Secretary of State; U.S. Chief of Protocol; U.S. Trade Representative.
DCPD Number: DCPD202501048.