US, Malaysia launch free trade talks http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-03-08T195410Z_01_N07417468_RTRUKOC_0_US-TRADE-MALAYSIA-USA.xml&archived=False
Wed Mar 8, 2006
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States launched free trade negotiations with Malaysia on Wednesday in a move aimed at strengthening U.S. economic ties in the strategically important Southeast Asian region.
"Malaysia has been at the forefront of the economic dynamism transforming Asia in recent years," U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said at a news conference with Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz and more than a dozen members of Congress.
"It already is our tenth largest trading partner, with $44 billion in two-way trade in 2005. Combined with a new trade opening agreement, Malaysia's rapidly growing economy will help generate meaningful export opportunities for our workers, service providers and farmers," Portman said.
The proposed pact with the majority-Muslim country builds on an existing U.S. free trade agreement in Southeast Asia with Singapore and follows Washington's recent decision to negotiate a free trade deal with South Korea.
Aziz said she was optimistic the two countries could reach a deal by an effective deadline of early next year, without the many problems that have dogged U.S. free trade talks with Thailand that were launched two years ago.
Thailand has faced strong domestic opposition to a free trade pact and recently suspended negotiations with the United States as it struggles with a political crisis.
"As far as Malaysia is concerned, there is absolutely no opposition to the FTA (free trade agreement)," Aziz said. "The Malaysian people in large really believe this a very strategic free trade agreement" that will expand export opportunities and attract new U.S. investment, Aziz said.
LAWMAKERS SEE EASY PATH
Democratic and Republican lawmakers predicted easy approval of a trade deal with Malaysia in contrast to last year's bitter fight over a free trade agreement with Central America.
They stressed Malaysia's importance not only as a rapidly growing market, but as an ally in the war on terrorism.
Rep. Greg Meeks, a New York Democrat, said the pact would improve ties "in a region of the world where the United States needs to make sure we have friends."
The National Association of Manufacturers estimated exports of U.S. manufactured goods to Malaysia could double to about $22 billion by 2010 if tariffs were eliminated.
Nearly 85 percent of Malaysia's exports to the United States enter the U.S. market tariff-free under a unilateral trade preference program, while U.S. exports are often faced with tariffs of six percent or more, business groups said.
A trade deal with Malaysia would expand farm exports to a country that is already a top market for U.S. wheat, soybeans, fruits, vegetables and other farm products, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said.
The White House needs to finish negotiations with both Malaysia and South Korea quickly to get them through Congress before trade promotion authority expires in mid-2007.
That law allows Portman to negotiate trade deals Congress has to approve or reject without making any changes.
Portman left open the possibility of launching more free trade talks in the months ahead, but acknowledged next year's expiration of trade promotion authority complicated that.
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