The federal government has been urged not to compromise on several key areas in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), said Umno Youth.

Two of the most important areas are government procurement and provisions that may put government-linked companies (GLCs) at a disadvantage, said Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the government should not agree to any provisions involving government procurement or provisions which expose GLCs to an "uneven playing field".

"These are the few points that we see as non-negotiable and cannot be agreed upon in the TPPA.

"We will inform this to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry," Khairy at a press conference yesterday after the Umno Youth executive committee meeting.

In addition, he said there should be no provisions that hinder the government's policies to help bumiputera entrepreneurs, nor allow foreign investors to sue the government as in the proposed Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism.

TPPA is a free trade agreement currently being negotiated by 12 countries - United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Some countries are aiming to conclude negotiations by the end of the year while Malaysia has decided not to fix a deadline.