U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Japanese and Philippine counterparts in a meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ annual ministerial meetings in Malaysia. The U.S., Japan and the Philippines have been building a trilateral bloc to broaden security and economic cooperation.

Anwar cited the US' willingness to review trade tariffs and strengthen ties with both Malaysia and the broader ASEAN region. The prime minister also extended a formal invitation to Trump, through Rubio, to attend the upcoming summit in October.

The question isn't whether Nick Adams is qualified to serve as the ambassador to Malaysia. The question is how GOP senators will react to his nomination.

Latest news and live updates as Marco Rubio meets with Russian foreign minister amid tensions over Ukraine and Trump releases tariff letters to trading partners.

Malaysia is optimistic it can reach a deal with the US to lower tariffs ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline for trade talks after President Donald Trump threatened to impose a steeper levy on the Southeast Asian country,

Trump on April 2 proposed a 20% tariff for EU goods and then threatened to raise that to 50% after negotiations did not move as fast as he would have liked, only to return to the 10% baseline. The EU has 27 member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.