THE United States and Malaysia will establish working groups to address trade matters, such as labour, intellectual property and the environment, American officials announced yesterday.

The agreement came following a meeting between Malaysian authorities and officials from the US Trade Representative office.

“The US is holding talks with key trading partners across Asia, reflecting the priority that the Trump administration places on deepening trade ties with countries in the region,” said the office.

Both the US and Malaysia had been signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation trade pact that addressed such issues.

However, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in January as part of the new administration’s retreat from trade liberalisation.

The administration has said it prefers bilateral trade agreements to multilateral treaties like TPP.

The US had a US$25 billion (RM107 billion) goods trade deficit with Malaysia last year, exporting aircraft, medical instruments and electrical machinery, but importing similar goods as well as rubber, furniture and bedding, said the US Trade Representative office. – AFP, July 18, 2017.