According to Bloomberg, the results of Bloomberg's economic research show that the latest trade agreements reached between the United States and the four Southeast Asian countries have made the four ASEAN member states very profitable, and their returns may be lower than the U.S. benefits.

Bloomberg said that the United States announced on the 26th local time that it had reached trade agreements with Cambodia and Malaysia, and signed framework arrangements with Thailand and Vietnam. These agreements not only provide broader market access for U.S. goods, but the countries concerned also commit to purchasing U.S. agricultural products, energy products and aircraft, and ensure supply channels for key minerals. In exchange, the United States will provide "reciprocal tariff" exemptions on certain products (most of which have not yet been announced).

According to the report, the agreement between Cambodia and the United States is a ¡°bad sign¡± for other countries that want to substantially cut ¡°reciprocal tariffs¡± if negotiators continue to follow the narrow list of exemptions proposed by the United States, ¡°these agreements will not substantially reduce ASEAN¡¯s tariffs on U.S. exports.¡±The Bloomberg Economic Research estimates that even if the United States removes the ¡°reciprocal tariffs¡± on all products on the potential exemptions list, it covers only less than 1% of total U.S. imports from Cambodia, 3% of Malaysia, 3.5% of Thailand and 2.7% of Vietnam.

The four agreements currently reached between the U.S. and ASEAN member states cite the same list of potential tariff exemptions released by the U.S. in September last year. The authors of the report said that the original scope of the list was rather limited, with many of the products either out of the scope of tariffs or accompanied by other conditions (such as applicable only to civil aviation components) thus narrowing the scope of their preferences.