The Malaysia-US Free Trade Agreement is a proposed treaty between

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. The treaty aims to liberalise each other markets to parties of the agreement and directly encourage trade between the two countries. At the time of proposal in 2005, the US was Malaysia's largest trading partner while Malaysia is the 10th largest trading partner for the US. Negotiation began in June 2005.Acknowledgements
The Malaysian delegation was led by then Minister of International Trade and Industry, Rafidah Abdul Aziz and the US delegation was led by

United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting American trade policy. Part of the Executive Office of the President, it is headed by the ...

Rob Portman and his deputy, Ambassador Karan K. Bhatia.

History

In January 2009, International Trade and Industry Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that negotiations on a free trade agreement had been temporarily suspended as a protest against the American support of Israel in the 2008 Gaza War. At the time of his statement he had not yet officially informed the Cabinet of his decision to suspend negotiations. The negotiations have since stalled as the US instead prioritized a regional economic association, particularly the

Trans-Pacific Partnership The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Sin ...

Issues

Several rounds were held to discuss matters that proved to be sticky for both sides. The US was working to achieve an agreement before the

Trade Promotion Authority The fast track authority for brokering trade agreements is the authority of the President of the United States to negotiate international agreements in an expedited manner and with limited congressional oversight. Renamed the trade promotion a ...

lapsed in July 2007; the TPA is an authority granted by the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

to the US president to fast track free trade negotiations between the US and foreign states. Despite the deadlines, both the US and the Malaysian sides were unable to move forward and hence, negotiation is still ongoing. The issues affecting the negotiation are high tariffs imposed on imported US goods compared to imported Malaysian goods, restriction of import of motor vehicles into Malaysia, government procurement based on

New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...

which favours the local Malays, export subsidies, intellectual property rights, pharmaceutical, barriers in various services, investment requirements which is again related to the NEP and transparency in governance.

Criticism

The free trade agreement has received opposition, particularly from the Consumers' Association of Penang. The CAP rallied for the end of negotiations, stating that the free trade agreement would have serious impact in Malaysia on many issues, such as: * Government procurements and the implications for ethnic relations in the country especially the

1Malaysia 1Malaysia (pronounced ''One Malaysia'' in English and ''Satu Malaysia'' in Malay) is a programme designed by Malaysian 6th Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in summer 2009 with the stated goal of promoting ethnic harmony, national unity, and e ...

vision * Investment and the implications for local jobs, small industries, companies, corporations and enterprises *

Intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

and access to affordable medicines and knowledge * Agriculture and

food security Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World ...

in relation to having an impact on local farmers and rice self-sufficiency * Food safety related to labelling of

GM foods Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...

, etc.

Notes

External links

FTA Malaysia - Free Trade Agreement Malaysia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malaysia-United States Free Trade Agreement Free trade agreements of Malaysia Free trade agreements of the United States History of the foreign relations of the United States Proposed free trade agreements Treaties of Malaysia Malaysia–United States relations