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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 1, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is still studying “very deeply” whether to follow the footsteps of six nations in ratifying the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“We are studying it very deeply to make sure it doesn’t have a bad effect on the economy,” Dr Mahathir told a press conference after launching the National Policy on Industry 4.0 yesterday.

“I cannot tell you an exact date [of our decision],” he said.

It has been reported that New Zealand said the CPTPP is due to take effect by end-2018, after Australia became the sixth country out of 11 nations in the free trade agreement (FTA) to formally ratify the deal.

Australia’s action has triggered the 60-day countdown to entry into force of the agreement and the first round of tariff cuts under the FTA, New Zealand Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker reportedly said.

The CPTPP, also known as TPP-11, is a new FTA proposed after the US pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in January 2017 soon after Donald Trump was elected US president.

Dr Mahathir had in August said that Malaysia has to honour the CPTPP as the previous Barisan Nasional government had already signed up as a member. However, the government has yet to formally ratify the pact to date.

“After the US pullout from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the condition which allows companies to sue governments is no longer something we need to fear. Also, there is less overwhelming dominance of America over the other countries,” Dr Mahathir reportedly said at the time.

The six countries that have made formal ratification are Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia. The other five nations namely Malaysia, Brunei, Chile, Peru and Vietnam have not yet ratified the deal.

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