On 9 March 2017, the Asian Research Institute of Banking and Finance (ARIBF), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), together with CIMB Bank organised a dialogue series entitled “Economic and Financial Consequences of President Trump Policies” held at Dewan Srivijaya, MBC, Kuala Lumpur. The two distinguished speakers were CIMB-UUM Chair Professor, who is also the Senior Research Fellow of ARIBF, Prof. Emeritus Dr. Salim Rashid, and CIMB chief economist, Dr. Arup Raha.
In his talk, Prof. Salim addressed the issue by analysing three crucial aspects – The aspiration of President Donald Trump himself, the Republican ideology, and the hopes of the American electorate. Prof. Salim analysed the possible impact of Trump policies through financial (short term) and economic (long term) implications.
Dr. Arup, on the other hand, tackled the other side of the story, by discussing on issues such as what brought Trump to power and the possibility of some silver lining which might come out from the best case scenario of “Trumpism”. Both speakers seemed to agree on one crucial point – which is that China is now the new champion of free trade.
During the moderation session, more narrow issues were discussed and debated on such as some effects on Asia, in particular Malaysia, US-China relations, and the banking sector globally with a full house in the audience in attendance.