U.S. says to negotiate free trade deal with Malaysia

President Barack Obama's administration notified Congress on Tuesday that it planned to begin free trade talks with Malaysia as part of a broader trade initiative in the Asia-Pacific region.

The move came as Malaysia also kicked off free-trade talks with the European Union, a chief U.S. export rival in the fast-growing Asian Pacific region, and as a new poll showed a majority of Americans were wary of trade pacts.
"On behalf of the president, I am pleased to inform the Congress that we intend to include Malaysia in the ongoing negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The United States and seven other countries in the Asia Pacific region launched formal negotiations on the proposed TPP earlier this year.
The group also includes Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The third round of negotiations are taking place this week in Brunei.
This would be the second time the United States tried to negotiate a free trade deal with Malaysia. The first effort several years ago ended in failure because of that country's unwillingness to open its market in certain sectors.
"Malaysia, which is engaged in extensive domestic economic reform, has assured us that it is now prepared to conclude a high-standard agreement," Kirk said in the letter to Pelosi and an identical one to the Senate.
Kirk said including Malaysia in the proposed TPP would create significant new export opportunities for U.S. manufacturers, service suppliers and farmers.
U.S. goods and services exports to Malaysia totaled $10 billion last year, including $700 million in farm goods.
RISING PUBLIC CONCERN
The announcement, which had been expected for some time, came the same day that the EU launched free trade talks with Malaysia, and one day before the EU will sign a free trade pact with longtime U.S. ally South Korea.
Europe's aggressive pursuit of free-trade agreements has raised concern in the U.S. business community that they could be put at a competitive disadvantage in global markets if Washington does not move quickly to catch up.
Business groups are especially frustrated that Congress still has not approved a U.S.-South Korea free-trade pact signed three years ago.
However, many Americans have become hostile to free-trade agreements, which Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, made a hallmark of his administration.
In a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 53 percent said free trade agreements have hurt the United States, up from 46 percent three years ago and 32 percent in 1999.
While there is no formal deadline for completing the talks, supporters hope for a deal by the time that Obama hosts the annual APEC leaders summit in Hawaii in November 2011.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)