Malaysian Trade Policy and the 2001 WTO Trade Policy Review

摘要

The Trade Policy Review: Malaysia 2001 is a valuable source of information for studying recent developments and the current state of trade and investment policy in Malaysia. However, its subject coverage is rather lopsided. Much of the Review is about tariffs. The discussion on various non-tariff barriers (in particular non-discretionary licensing, which seems to have gained in importance in recent years), government procurement practices, export subsidies and agricultural production subsidies have not gone beyond providing a chronology of events and listing of policies. The overall discussion on recent policy changes in the TPR provides some clues about some notable deviation of Malaysia's trade policy stance from the country's pre-crisis commitment to trade liberalisation. But no attempt has been made to highlight these deviations, let alone analysing their socio-political underpinnings and economic implications. Nor is there any substantial assessment of the problems faced by Malaysia in meeting its remaining commitments under the WTO.