This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 21, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government may decide to ban certain imports from the European Union (EU) countries, in retaliation for their discrimination against palm oil exports from Malaysia.

“We think we will stop buying some European products, that is one thing we can do,” the prime minister told reporters at Parliament lobby yesterday, a day after he said Malaysia should be more aggressive in addressing the EU’s proposed restrictions towards palm oil use.

On Tuesday, Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying that Malaysia had written to all the government heads of the EU, pointing out to them that Malaysia would need to retaliate if they continued with their unfair discrimination against palm oil.

EU countries, such as Norway and France, are planning to ban palm oil from biofuel from 2020.

According to news reports, the European Commission concluded in a draft regulation last week that palm oil cultivation causes excessive deforestation and its use in biofuels will be reduced to zero by 2030.