KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has denied it has compromised its halal certification standards during tariff negotiations with the United States.
“There is absolutely no compromise on halal standards.
“What we had agreed to is the facilitation of the import process for halal-certified products into Malaysia.
“The halal certification will remain syariah compliant,” Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz told a press conference yesterday.
Malaysia’s halal import restrictions and its requirements for bumiputra equity in foreign-owned companies were flagged by the United States as key trade barriers.
Tengku Zafrul was responding to claims that the government had lowered the halal standards imposed by Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) as a concession to the United States.
He also refuted claims that the United States had demanded exclusive access to Malaysia’s rare earth as this was not part of the negotiations.
“There were a lot of speculations on this.
“But I can attest here that there was no such request from the United States to have exclusive access to our rare earth,” he said.
On Malaysia’s red line, he said the United States had demanded total liberalisation of equity for strategic sectors and blanket exemption for imported licensing for US products.
The United States also demanded abolishment of excise duties and import permits for US-manufactured cars.
“For example, they wanted us to abolish excise duty on three big items such as cars, tobacco and alcohol.
“This was a red line for us which we did not compromise,” he added.
He added that Malaysia also stood firm on its bumiputra policy and government procurement policy.
He said that after Malaysia explained and listed its reason for the red line, the United States was receptive to Malaysia’s stand.
On US concessions to Malaysia, Tengku Zafrul said the United States is willing to impose zero tariffs on raw materials exported by Malaysia which the United States is unable to produce.
Among the commodities cited by Tengku Zafrul were cocoa, rubber and palm oil.
