‘Missed Opportunity’ For Malaysia If TPP Not Implemented: Malaysian Minister

Cover image via The Malaysian Insider/Najjua Zulkefli

It will be a “missed opportunity” for Malaysia if the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) fails to materialise, said the country’s International Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed on Tuesday (Jan 24) in a statement.

His statement comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to pull the US out of the TPP.

In response, the Malaysian minister reiterated that if the TPP fails, Malaysia’s focus will be to enhance regional economic integration.

“As I have said in Davos during the World Economic Forum, should the TPPA fail to materialise, our focus would be to enhance the economic integration of ASEAN in the context of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint 2025, push for the timely conclusion of the RCEP, as well as pursue bilateral FTAs including with TPPA members whom we currently do not have any preferential trading arrangement.”

He added that TPP negotiators from the other 11 countries will be constantly communicating with one another. They will consider all available options before they come to a decision on the next step, the minister said.

He also said the Malaysian government will engage with various stakeholders to get feedback.

“Malaysia will continue to monitor closely developments with regard to the US’ trade policies. Notwithstanding the current position of the new US Administration on TPPA, we will continue to engage with our American colleagues to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic relations, given the US’ importance as our third largest trading partner and a major source of investment.”

Malaysia’s Minister for Plantation Industries and Commodities Mah Siew Keong also expressed disappointment at US withdrawal from the TPP.

Speaking at the 19th Malaysia Strategic Outlook Conference on Tuesday, he said:

“Our target was with this (TPP), maybe by 2021, we can get RM20 billion  (from just exporting) Palm oil to these TPPA countries, because now (without the TPP) it’s already RM13 billion. But now since president Trump has announced it’s scrapped, we should not just waste (the negotiations). We will look at the other 11 countries , how we are going to cooperate on negotiations that have taken place so far.”

“Nevertheless, we are going to explore the other countries. We hope to export more to Europe, Africa, India, Iran and China. We’ve been working very hard to maintain the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil.”

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