MALAYSIA has tapped a career diplomat as its new ambassador to the US, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Southeast Asian nation seeks tariff relief from Washington.
Shahrul Ikram Yaakob, who retired as secretary-general of Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in 2022, will be the new envoy, although his appointment has yet to be ratified by Washington, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
The 64-year-old is currently an independent non-executive director at state-controlled conglomerate Sime Darby Bhd.
The foreign affairs ministry, the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and Sime Darby couldn’t immediately comment on Friday.
The position has been vacant for more than three months even as Malaysia negotiates with the US to bring levies on the Southeast Asian nation down from the 24% that President Donald Trump has pledged to impose. The previous ambassador, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, ended his two-year stint in Washington in February.
The outcome of the tariff talks will be crucial for trade-reliant Malaysia, which counts the US as its largest export market and China as its biggest trading partner, making it vulnerable to the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Shahrul served 34 years in diplomatic service, including two stints in the US.
He was first secretary to the embassy in Washington in the 1990s, and was the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York from 2017 to 2018, according to his professional biography on Sime Darby’s website. He also had stints as Malaysia’s ambassador to Qatar and Austria. –BLOOMBERG
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