SOUTH-EAST Asian nations will forge a common front to face challenges including economic headwinds from US tariffs, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said today.

Opening an annual summit of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean), Mr Anwar said he has sought a unified bloc meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss the tariffs.

Officials are hopeful it could happen later this year. Malaysia is the current chair of Asean.

“For Asean, our peace, stability and prosperity have often depended on an open, inclusive, rules-based international order. These foundations are now being dismantled under the force of arbitrary action,” Mr Anwar said.

Asean has formed a task force to co-ordinate a response to the US tariffs in parallel with bilateral negotiations by some member countries.

Members of Asean include Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

The region has been hit by the Trump administration’s tariffs, which range from 10 per cent for Singapore to as high as 49 per cent for Cambodia — although a 90-day pause was announced in April.

A similar deal was struck between China and the US this month.

Mr Anwar said an Asean leaders’ meeting tomorrow with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) — the first such tripartite meeting — would spur new co-operation. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told the Asean summit that a “code of conduct” being negotiated by Asean and China to govern the busy sea passage must be binding — one of the factors that has hampered talks.

He said: “We underscore the urgent need to accelerate the adoption of a legally binding code of conduct in the South China Sea to safeguard maritime rights, promote stability and prevent miscalculations at sea.”