The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) Minus 1: What’s Next for Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)?

TPPA faced turbulence and uncertainty among its members when the newly-elected President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trumps abandoned the trade deal. Now, the so-called TPP11 or TPP 12 minus one becomes talk of the town especially to the remaining countries with hopes that the trade deal can be salvage and turn into a reality. Malaysia has another option to rely on in case the trade deal faced the dead end. This paper discuss the possible steps and mitigations for Malaysia and also local SMEs in dealing with the future of TPP11 with the alternative economic deal such as Asean Economic Community (AEC) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Local SMEs can enhance their products and services by focusing on domestic market as well as looking for opportunity in the international market as another way to survive in the red ocean market. The introduction of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) creates another opportunity for Malaysian SMEs to optimise the emerging growth of the Internet economy and cross border e-commerce activities. In addition, the DFTZ would enhanced local SMEs in terms of export capabilities in the digital market particularly with China. Local SMEs should remain proactive, resilience and versatile in facing the world’s economic uncertainty particularly the TPP for the sustainability of their business livelihood. Thus, this paper will review the next step for Malaysian SMEs in dealing with the uncertain future of the TPPA minus 1.