KUALA LUMPUR: The newly signed reciprocal trade agreement between the United States and Malaysia does not involve government spending or compromise national standards, says Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
He dismissed claims that the agreement requires public funds, stressing all procurements are purely commercial.
“There are too many allegations on social media by people who have not read the agreement. They speak as if they were present at the negotiations,” said the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister
“First, the RM1tril in purchases from the US; the procurement list under this agreement is not new, as I explained in Parliament last August,” he said.
“Perhaps the Pasir Gudang MP was not present then, but I will repeat it,” added Tengku Zafrul during a ministerial briefing in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Oct 29).
Tengku Zafrul said commercial consideration commitments under Section 6 do not involve government expenditure.
“The purchases are part of companies’ existing procurement plans and do not involve any government funds,” he said.
He said some purchases were announced before the US tariff announcement.
These include Malaysia Aviation Group’s purchase of Boeing aircraft announced in March.
