Recent senate hearings to confirm Donald Trump’s cabinet picks brought into sharp contrast the candidate for US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Tammy Duckworth,

A senator told Hegseth: "I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations."

Anwar's statement at the World Economic Forum emphasises the need to balance strong relations with China while addressing maritime issues Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has urged Southeast Asian nations not to "single out" Beijing over South China Sea disputes,

In a heated Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Sen. Tammy Duckworth grilled the proposed defense secretary over the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, asking him if he could name one member and how many countries were in the bloc.

US President Donald Trump could impose tariffs on Malaysian goods or that of Malaysia’s key trading partners, says UOB’s Julia Goh.

While Hegseth fumbled in responding to questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who was born in Bangkok and injured in combat while serving in the U.S. military, regional leaders have expressed optimism about U.S. engagement under Trump’s leadership.

Tariffs could be imposed on foreign-made semiconductor chips, including those by Taiwan’s TSMC, if they are not made stateside.

DONALD Trump has been pretty busy since his inauguration as President of the United States for the second time. Read more at The Business Times.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, was questioned about ASEAN during a heated Senate confirmation and struggled with his response.

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, born in Bangkok to a Thai mother and an American father, posed the question to Pete Hegseth.

WASHINGTON: The dramatic debut of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) software DeepSeek, which triggered a deep sell-off in US stocks on Monday (Jan 27), was timed to land during US President Donald Trump’s first week in office,

Hegseth responded at the heated Senate confirmation hearing that he couldn’t tell Duckworth the exact number of ASEAN nations, but that “I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan in AUKUS (a pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) with Australia.”