ANKARA

US President Donald Trump is likely to attend a trade deal signing ceremony between the US and Malaysia set for next month, state-run media reported on Friday.

Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Malaysia’s investment, trade and industry minister, said US trade representative Jamieson Greer told him that Trump wants to attend the signing ceremony in Malaysia during a regional summit in the capital Kuala Lumpur, according to the Bernama news agency.

According to Aziz, Washington and Kuala Lumpur have agreed and are finalizing the wording of the agreement,

"This morning our team was also negotiating with US officials. We have agreed on the key fundamentals, which we announced recently. All the issues are resolved. Now it is just about preparing the agreement," he said.

A day earlier Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that he hopes negotiations could be concluded with a deal signed soon.

Earlier this month, Ibrahim also confirmed that Trump will visit to Malaysia next month in conjunction with the summit of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs on Malaysian imports in April starting at 24% before cutting them to 19% in August.

Trump is also expected to visit Japan and South Korea during his Asia trip next month as Japanese media reported Tokyo and Washington are arranging a state visit by Trump to Japan in late October,

Trump earlier said he would be joining an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit hosted by South Korea on Oct. 31.

Separately, Japan’s Finance Ministry on Friday announced the creation of an investment facility at a state-owned development bank to support a $550 billion package tied to its tariff agreement with Washington.

Under the deal, which reduces a 15% tariff on Japanese imports from an earlier 27.5%, Tokyo pledged to invest $550 billion in the US and boost imports of American agricultural products.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid