KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): Malaysia will be among the losers arising from a "tit-for-tat" trade war between the US and China, said AmBank Group Research.

In his global markets strategy report today, AmBank group chief economist and head of research said the losers will be the Asian export economies like Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and Hong Kong, which are related to machine parts and components used in the production of items that China then sells to the US and chip makers.

"We feel Asian economies engaged in intermediary trading between China and the US will bear the brunt of the impact of the trade dispute.

"Key countries will be South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia, all of which export goods such as machine parts and components for communications equipment used in the production of items that China then sells to the US," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the winners will be soybean exporters like Brazil, Argentina and Russia; pork producers like Germany, Spain, Denmark and Russia; plane suppliers i.e. European-made Airbus aircraft; and steel importers like the Philippines.