International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed has denied suggestions that Malaysia is among the "trade cheats" responsible from the United States' US$50 billion trade deficit.

Following the allegation by the US government, he said the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) has been tasked to look at trade statistics policies between the US and Malaysia, and the ministry is preparing some facts to rebut the allegation.

“We are supporters of free and fair trade. We do not manipulate our currency, we don’t give subsidies that violate international rules, including the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules […]

“We are confident that our polices are in line with the normal practices of international trade including that of the WTO, so we strongly deny that we are a trade cheat,” he told reporters when met at the ministry’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

He was asked to respond to two executive orders that were signed by US President Donald Trump on Friday last week.

The orders would reportedly launch a 90-day investigation for evidence of "cheating", inappropriate behavior, trade deals that have not lived up to their promise, lax enforcement, currency misalignment and troublesome WTO constraints, according to the AFP report.

This would form the basis of future decisions by the Trump administration, the report said, including retaliatory or remedial action.

Malaysia is listed as among the countries and territories targeted by the investigation, along with China, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Ireland, Vietnam, Italy, South Korea, India, Thailand, France, Switzerland, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Canada.

Mustapa said Malaysia’s figures show that the US has a US$6 billion trade deficit with Malaysia, but the US figures appear to be much higher. This will be among the issues that will be looked into by Matrade.

Despite the investigation, he said the US remains a valuable trade partner, and Malaysia would continue to promote economic partnerships with the US and is confident that relations would continue to grow.