KL keeps TPPA options open

Keeping Malaysian interest: Mustapa walking to a meeting room during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible For Trade meeting in Hanoi. —AFP

PETALING JAYA: With the new US Trade Representative confirming the United States will not return to the Trans-Pacific Part­nership Agreement (TPPA), the other 11 members of the trade deal are scrambling to save it.

Trade ministers of the 11 countries who met in Hanoi, Vietnam, yesterday have instructed their senior officials to start the process to assess all the options available for the signatories before their next meeting.