On 26 October 2002 the United States announced the
creation of the Enterprise for ASEAN initiative, which offers the prospect for bilateral
free trade agreements with ASEAN members that are WTO members and have a bilateral TIFA with the
United States. The ASEAN countries include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
On 10 May 2004 the United States and Malaysia signed a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework
Agreement (TIFA). This agreement creates a U.S. - Malaysia Council on Trade and Investment. The first
meeting under the U.S. - Malaysia TIFA took place in Kuala Lumpur in February 2005, the second in May
2005 in Washington, D.C. and the third meeting under the United States - Malaysia Trade and Investment
Framework Agreement was held on 11 October 2005 in Malaysia.
On 8 March 2006 the United States and Malaysia announced that they would begin negotiations towards
a free trade agreement. The first round of negotiations took place in Penang, Malaysia in June 2006
and the second round took place in Washington D.C. in July of that same year.
On July 17, 2017 United Sates and Malaysia met under their Trade and Investment Framework Agreement
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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