Malaysia Free Trade Essay

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Malaysia 's economic growth and development is highly enviable. In tandem to that, Malaysia 's trade policy is to pursue efforts towards creating a more liberalized and fair international trade environment. While Malaysia continues to accord high priority to the rule-based multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Malaysia is also pursuing regional and bilateral trading arrangements to complement the multilateral approach to trade liberalisation.
Free trade agreements (FTA) are intended to stimulate trade between countries by reducing or eliminating restrictions such as tariffs, quotas, special fees and taxes. Their purpose is to facilitate transactions and promote more business between the countries or areas based …show more content…

For example, Proton is a one of local car in Malaysia. Hence, foreign car makers and consumers have long grappled with the high tax structure imposed by the Malaysian government to protect local car makers. The government recently began dismantling some of the duties levied on imports under a free-trade agreement signed with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
Although proponents of free trade agreements emphasize their ability to improve economic efficiency, some agreements can create complex webs of regulations that actually hurt businesses. The problem is that each bilateral trade deal includes multiple regulations defining products, tax rates, point of origin and other aspects of trade. The dozens of different bilateral deals in the world create legal complexities for buyers and sellers. For example, where does a T-shirt made in China with cotton grown in the United States come from? Under one agreement, the answer might be China, while another would call the shirt American. Some economists call these tangled webs or regulations the free trade "noodle bowl" and argue that bilateral agreements do more harm than

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