“We have not reached the stage where we stop buying from France,” said International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ministry’s networking event in conjunction with the Raya celebration, Mustapa said he agreed with Plantations Industries and Commodities Minister Mah Siew Kiong’s recent statement to keep a positive trading tone between the two countries.

French minister of environment Nicholas Hulot on July 6 suggested that measures be taken to restrict the use of palm oil in biofuels as a means to reduce deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s top two producers of the tropical oil.

Mah responded to the statement by saying Malaysia would be compelled to re-evaluate options on trade with France.

“This (the French announcement) has put pressure on the palm oil industry as well as the producer,” Mah added.

On another matter, Mustapa said Malaysia would continue to seek a solution with the United States to rejuvenate and re-engage trade relations between the two nations.

He said the bilateral trade relations were seen to have “cooled” after US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact on taking office in January.

“American companies have created more than 200,000 jobs for Malaysians. Our relationship is important and Malaysia feels the need to keep it strong,” he said.

He added the government was looking at the option of having a trade and investment facilitation agreement (Tifa) with the US some time in the fourth quarter this year.

Besides the US and Malaysia, the other signatories of the TPP were Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

The 11 remaining nations in the pact currently are continuing negotiations among themselves to conclude a new deal excluding the US.