Malaysia’s trade surplus with the United States is declining following rising imports from the world's biggest economy, says the New York office of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade).

It said US-Malaysia bilateral trade totalled US$40 billion last year, with Malaysia’s exports amounting to US$26 billion, while imports worth US$14 billion, resulting US$12 billion in trade surplus.

Malaysia’s exports rose by 11.3 percent but imports posted a strong growth of 34 percent, says Matrade commissioner in New York, Wan Latiff Wan Musa.

He said Malaysia's exports in the first quarter of this year posted a modest 1.2 percent growth while imports grew by 22 percent in the same period.

"However, we still maintain a US$2.5 billion trade surplus in the first quarter of 2011," said Wan Latiff in an interview with Bernama at his New York office.

Taking stock of the post-recession economic situation in the United States, Wan Latiff said he had discerned signs of economic slowdown.

"What is particularly worrisome is the fact that unemployment has risen again to 9.1 percent, according to the latest data available after having declined to 8.9 percent in the past few months," he said.

Rising unemployment, which usually curbs consumer spending, could also affect imports from Malaysia, he said.

"We are closely monitoring the situation... our major exports to the United States are still electrical and electronics products. The employment situation, usually has an impact on demand for such products.

"Indeed, there is a debate on whether the economy will relapse into a recession though many believe there will be an economic slowdown, but what is encouraging for us is that exports of palm oil, chemicals, scientific equipment and rubber products are still strong.

"We've seen a drop only in electrical and electronics products, particularly computer-related components," he said.

Wan Latiff was very happy with the initiatives taken by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to intensify political and economic ties with the US.

He said the initiatives had imbibed new momentum to bilateral economic and trading relations with the US.

"The US has been an important trading partner of Malaysia and Najib's initiatives have helped revive two-way economic and trading ties.

"We are also looking at the high-value automotive sector; aerospace; biotechnology; and business outsourcing services such as the IT services in healthcare; banking; and insurance," he said, adding that he was unperturbed by the competition from other countries, particularly China.

- Bernama