Malaysia won’t be pressured into CPTPP: trade minister Darell Leiking

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Darell Leiking suggests Kuala Lumpur may seek bilateral agreements instead

Malaysia signed up to the deal under scandal-tainted former leader Najib Razak

Reading Time:3 minutes

Malaysian trade minister Darell Leiking. Photo: SCMP

Published: 8:00pm, 17 Jan 2019Updated: 8:33pm, 17 Jan 2019

Malaysia will not be pressured into ratifying a 11-nation Asia-Pacific trade deal it signed up to under the scandal-tainted former prime minister Najib Razak, its trade minister said on Thursday, as he raised the prospect of holding out for bilateral tariff pacts instead.

Darell Leiking’s comments in an interview with the South China Morning Post come ahead of a ministerial meeting between the 11 trade ministers of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) this weekend.

Leiking’s government, led by the 93-year-old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, has been criticised by free trade proponents of dragging its feet over ratifying the multilateral deal – especially after it came into effect for six of the 11 countries at the start of the year.

Vietnam this week became the seventh country to ratify the pact, meaning it can now enjoy a major reduction in tariffs with others on board with the deal.

The 11 countries – four from Southeast Asia – make up a market with a GDP of US$10 trillion and a population of 500 million people.

It would have been larger had it not been rejected by US President Donald Trump. He pulled his country out of the deal within days of coming to office in 2017.