Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned Wednesday that global trade is being weaponized as Southeast Asia’s foreign ministers opened an annual meeting while facing the looming threat of U.S. trade tariffs.

Southeast Asia's biggest economies prepared on Tuesday to step up trade negotiations with Washington after it hit them with steep tariffs, despite a last-ditch flurry of offers to boost imports and slash levies on U.

Vietnam remains the region’s largest apparel exporter to the U.S., sending roughly $18.6 billion worth of goods in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Cambodia follows with $7.8 billion, then Indonesia at $6.4 billion, Thailand at $2.7 billion, and Malaysia at $1.6 billion.