Malaysia Flags Major TPP Outstanding Issues, Says U.S. Needs TPA To Close

SINGAPORE -- Ahead of a Feb. 22-25 meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministers here, the Malaysian government publicly laid out its objections on seven key areas in the negotiations, and revealed that 21 out of 29 chapters have outstanding issues. The problem areas flagged by Malaysia include intellectual property (IP), particularly on pharmaceutical IP protection; state-owned enterprises (SOEs), where Malaysia says TPP countries are still in the preliminary stage of discussing a definition; and investment, where it is seeking carveouts...