There is a clear shift in Malaysia's trade policies signaled by the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan. The FTA with Japan titled 'The Japan Malaysia Economic Partnership Agreement' (JMEPA) is Malaysia's first bilateral FTA outside Asean.

The FTA will be realised over a period of 10 years and cover a comprehensive agenda ranging from goods, services, investments and economic co-operation.

Malaysia is also currently actively pursuing bilateral FTAs with various countries. This is indeed a shift from Malaysia's stance on bilateral FTAs which it had strongly opposed most notably when Singapore initiated bilateral FTAs a few years ago.