KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia aims to conclude the Reciprocal Trade Agreement with the United States ahead of the 47th Asean Summit in October, says Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
The Investment, Trade and Industry Minister said the agreement is nearly completed and the government merely needs to iron out several details.
He said this was discussed during his bilateral meeting with US trade representative Jamieson Greer and his delegation during their visit at the 57th Asean Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting here.
“Greer talked about how we need to try to conclude the agreement by the time of US President Donald Trump‘s visit,” he said when met by reporters at the sidelines of the AEM meeting on Thursday (Sept 25).
However, Tengku Zafrul said the issue of the United States lowering the current 19% tariffs on Malaysian goods to a lower rate was not discussed.
“It is up to the US administration. For now, we want to finalise what we agreed, the details of that will be in the (tariff) agreement we will announce.
“Once the agreement is out, then we have to go line by line on what we did … and what we want to agree on moving forward,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul said that during his meeting with Greer, he put forth Malaysia’s concerns and also took note of the United States’ concerns.
“We talked about the importance of trade with the United States, especially in a few key sectors, one of them being in semiconductors.
“It was good. It enabled us to talk about issues we felt strongly about, especially since the United States is Malaysia’s largest export market,” he said.
Earlier, Anwar stressed the importance of finalising the Reciprocal Trade Agreement with the United States, saying it will help guide policy and business planning for both countries.
Anwar made the remark while receiving a courtesy call from Greer and his delegation during their visit at the 57th AEM meeting and related gatherings in Kuala Lumpur.
Trump is expected to attend the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits from Oct 26 to 28.
