Malaysia Eyeing Bilateral FTAs With Canada And Peru

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- Not wanting to lose out on the abundant trade opportunities available, Malaysia is now eyeing bilateral Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries such as Canada and Peru. This is Malaysia's counter action to the high probability that US President-elect Donald Trump would not back the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), which was ironically spearheaded by Washington. The TPP involves 12 countries, namely the US, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and Peru. Of these, Malaysia does not have any form of trade pacts with Canada, Mexico and Peru, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamad told a press conference on the upcoming National Aerospace event, here Tuesday. Malaysia also does not have an FTA with the US. Given the current scenario, Malaysia will now explore bilateral trade opportunities with these countries (Canada, Mexico and Peru) on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Lima, Peru, next week. "Those are the big markets for the country," said Mustapa. He said at the Peru meeting, Malaysia would keep an open mind on what could be achieved as there would be more clarity on the TPP's future. It was reported that Malaysia would be amending 18 laws in its efforts to implement its TPPA commitment. Elaborating on this to the media, Mustapa said some laws had been on the table for amendments for quite sometimes, but it was getting harder to go through the parliament right now. "As I said there will be greater clarity when we come back from Peru. As for now, the ratification is in pause mode," he said. Earlier Tuesday, Mustapa said that the TPP required the ratification of at least six countries, accounting for 85 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the 12, to bring it into force. The GDP of the US alone constitutes about 60 per cent of the total GDP of the TPP signatories. Hence, there can be no TPP without the participation of the US, Mustapa said. -- BERNAMA