I call on the Prime Minister and Minister of International Trade and
Industry not to proceed with the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (“TPPA”)
with the remaining 10 other members following US President Donald Trump’s
executive order withdrawing USA from the trade pact.
It is irrational and irresponsible to continue with the TPPA when
the principal benefit of improved access to the US market to compensate for the
burden and restrictions of the TPPA is gone.
By continuing the TPPA, Malaysia and the remaining countries are required
to proceed with the concessions of not only lowering trade barriers but also changing
domestic laws and regulations such as intellectual property rights, human
rights and legal rights including extra-judicial Investor-State Dispute
Settlement (ISDS) affecting sovereign rights in favour of multinational
corporations over local producers and consumers without the corresponding gains
in US market access.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that the TPPA has no
meaning without the US. Without the US and Japan which two countries account
for 80 percent of the TPPA countries’ trade it makes no sense for Malaysia to
continue with the TPPA.
It would be far better for Malaysia to negotiate bilateral free
trade agreements with the remaining countries that serves the economic
interests of Malaysians without having to surrender to the multinational
corporations’ demands than to salvage the TPPA.
William Leong Jee Keen
24th January 2017
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