Malaysian ex-PM Mahathir blasts ‘old world’ Trump

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is giving President Donald Trump three months before his fellow Americans force him to rethink his stringent global tariff strategy, accusing the US leader of "living in an old world".

Speaking to AFP in an interview two months ahead of his 100th birthday, the plain-speaking Mahathir said: "Trump will find that his tariffs are hurting America, and the people in America will end up against him."

The US president's stop-start tariff rollout will hit Asian nations hard -- including Malaysia, which faces a 24 percent levy in July unless the two countries can strike a deal.

"It's going to cause America a lot of problems, so I give Trump three months," said Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia in two stints lasting nearly a quarter of a century.

Still working a five-day week from his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, the sprightly nonagenarian remains as outspoken as ever.

"Donald Trump is irrational. I don't think he thinks carefully about what he's doing," said Mahathir.

"His policies on migration -- and also trying to reduce the cost of government, sacking thousands of people -- all these things are not good.

"It will not make America great," he said, taking a jab at Trump's MAGA election slogan.

Asked what he thought of some of Trump's foreign policies -- proposing to take over Greenland and seize control of the Panama Canal -- Mahathir said the US leader was "living in an old world".

Throughout his long career, Mahathir was a proponent of a "Look East" policy -- pushing Malaysians to find solutions in Asia rather than depending on Western nations.