Malaysia's Free Trade Agreements: CPTPP, RCEP and the Rest of the Portfolio

Most of Malaysia’s imports and exports move across borders where tariffs have already been negotiated down. That network has been assembled deal by deal since the early 1990s — from the ASEAN Free Trade Area to the two mega-agreements, RCEP and CPTPP, that now sit at its centre.

For an economy this open — trade routinely runs well above GDP — the FTA portfolio is not a diplomatic footnote. It decides which of a Malaysian exporter’s shipments arrive duty-free and which get taxed at the border.

How many free trade agreements does Malaysia actually have?

Malaysia is party to eight bilateral FTAs and nine regional FTAs, negotiated and administered by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI). On top of these sit two narrower “partial-scope” preferential agreements that cut tariffs on a defined list of goods rather than across the board.

The bilateral agreements pair Malaysia with a single partner country:

Bilateral FTA	Entry into force
Malaysia–Japan	13 July 2006
Malaysia–Pakistan	1 January 2008
Malaysia–New Zealand	1 August 2010
Malaysia–India	1 July 2011
Malaysia–Chile	25 February 2012
Malaysia–Australia	1 January 2013
Malaysia–Turkey	1 August 2015
Malaysia–United Arab Emirates	1 October 2025

The Malaysia–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, in force since 1 October 2025, is Malaysia’s first trade agreement with a Gulf Cooperation Council state.

Note that Malaysia has both a bilateral deal and a regional deal covering several of the same partners — Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand each appear twice. Exporters can generally choose whichever agreement gives the better tariff or the easier rules of origin for a given shipment.

What are the regional agreements built on?

The regional FTAs are all anchored in ASEAN. The foundation is the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), operating through the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), which has eliminated tariffs on the overwhelming majority of intra-ASEAN trade. From there, ASEAN negotiated as a bloc with major partners.

Regional FTA	Entry into force
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)	1993
ASEAN–China (ACFTA)	1 July 2003
ASEAN–Korea (AKFTA)	1 July 2006
ASEAN–Japan (AJCEP)	1 February 2009
ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand (AANZFTA)	1 January 2010
ASEAN–India (AIFTA)	1 January 2010
ASEAN–Hong Kong, China (AHKFTA)	13 October 2019
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)	18 March 2022
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)	29 November 2022

The two most recent entries are the most consequential.

RCEP: the world’s largest trade bloc

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership brings together the ten ASEAN members plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. RCEP entered into force for Malaysia on 18 March 2022, after Malaysia completed its ratification.

RCEP’s headline is scale rather than depth: it covers a group of economies that together account for a very large share of world trade and population. On tariffs, it eliminates duties on about 92% of goods traded among its parties over time, phased in across the years following entry into force.

Its more strategically important feature is a single set of rules of origin across all 15 members. Instead of tracking a different origin formula for each partner, a manufacturer can source components from anywhere in the RCEP zone and have them count toward the local-content threshold — a real advantage for regional supply chains that thread through several ASEAN and East Asian countries.

CPTPP: deeper rules, new markets

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is the higher-standard deal. Its members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Malaysia submitted its instrument of ratification on 30 September 2022, and the agreement entered into force for Malaysia on 29 November 2022 — making Malaysia the ninth member to implement it. (At the time of implementation, Brunei and Chile had yet to ratify.)

CPTPP’s commercial pull is twofold. First, it removes tariffs on the vast majority of goods traded between members, with 99% of tariff lines set to be duty-free once the agreement is fully implemented. Second, it opened preferential access to markets Malaysia had no prior FTA with — notably Canada, Mexico and Peru — giving exporters tariff advantages in the Americas they did not previously enjoy.

Beyond tariffs, CPTPP reaches into areas earlier FTAs left untouched: government procurement, state-owned enterprises, labour and environmental commitments, e-commerce and intellectual property. That depth is why it took longer to ratify and why it carries obligations that go well past customs duties.

RCEP vs CPTPP at a glance

	RCEP	CPTPP
In force for Malaysia	18 March 2022	29 November 2022
Members	15 (ASEAN + 5 partners)	11 (Pacific Rim)
Tariff coverage	~92% of goods over time	99% of tariff lines once fully implemented
Standout feature	Single regional rules of origin	Access to Canada, Mexico, Peru
Depth	Broad, tariff-focused	Deep — procurement, SOEs, labour, IP

What does the FTA network mean for trade?

The practical measure is how much of Malaysia’s commerce now runs through preferential channels. In 2024, trade with FTA partners was valued at roughly RM1.77 trillion in combined imports and exports, producing a trade surplus of around RM221 billion. The FTA network therefore covers the majority of Malaysia’s external trade.

The two partial-scope agreements round out the picture for exporters targeting emerging markets: the Trade Preferential System among OIC Member States (TPS-OIC) and the D-8 Preferential Tariff Agreement, both of which took effect for Malaysia on 1 October 2023, cut tariffs on defined product lists among member developing economies.

Which agreements are still on the table?

Malaysia’s negotiators have not stopped. Two European tracks are the most advanced:

• Malaysia–EU FTA. Talks originally launched in 2010, were suspended in 2012, and resumed in January 2025, with the first negotiating round held in late June 2025. The EU is pursuing an ambitious deal covering goods, services, investment, government procurement, digital trade and sustainability commitments.
• Malaysia–EFTA Economic Partnership Agreement. Malaysia concluded negotiations with the EFTA states — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — on 11 April 2025, and the agreement was signed on 23 June 2025 in Tromsø, Norway; ratification is pending.

Other bilateral tracks have also appeared in Malaysia’s negotiating pipeline, including a reported preferential agreement with Iran.

What’s next

If you export or import, the practical step is to check MITI’s official FTA portal (fta.miti.gov.my) for the specific tariff schedule and rules-of-origin requirements that apply to your product and destination — the phase-in dates and local-content thresholds vary by agreement and by tariff line. For most manufactured goods heading into ASEAN or East Asia, RCEP’s single rules-of-origin regime is worth modelling against the older ASEAN-plus deals to see which yields the better outcome.

Watch the EU and EFTA tracks. A concluded EU deal would be Malaysia’s first comprehensive agreement with the bloc and would reshape access for palm oil, electronics and services alike. For the underlying regional foundation, see our companion overview of Malaysia’s ASEAN membership.