Abstract

How is Malaysia adapting to the Trump era? In most respects, its response has been strikingly effective. In October 2025, it signed the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade with America, signalling pragmatic engagement with a more transactional Washington. As ASEAN Chair in 2025, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim demonstrated an instinct for managing relations with Donald Trump’s more personalised, deal-driven style. This seminar unpacks the calculations behind Malaysia’s approach. It considers how Malaysia weighs economic interdependence against strategic autonomy, and examines the pressures that may arise as America’s global posture continues to shift.

About the Speaker

Shahriman Lockman is Director (Special Projects), with research interests spanning Malaysian foreign and defence policy, Southeast Asian maritime security and Malaysia-China relations, particularly in the South China Sea context. He served as a consultant to the Ministry of Defence on Malaysia’s inaugural Defence White Paper in 2019, focusing on budgeting and implementation, and represented Malaysia in an academic assessment of common security challenges affecting the Five Power Defence Arrangements nations for 2020-2031 under the FPDA Policy Group. He is a member of the Malaysian chapter of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific and holds a Master of Strategic Affairs from the Australian National University.