Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the Trans Pacific Partnership needs to be renegotiated because “smaller countries would have the chance to compete because they would be given certain handicaps.” He emphasized “small countries cannot compete on the same terms as bigger countries.”
Mahathir, aged 92 and became Prime Minister for the second time last month, would also like to have a second push to his favored broad trade pact such as the East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC), which he proposed during his previous administration. He noted that “yes, I am still in favor of EAEC. In the past, of course, we were not able to do this due to the objections of America, but now America seems to become isolationist again so it is not in a position to demand that we cannot form EAEC.”
