The president is expected to try to ease Malaysian concerns on the TPP when he meets Najib on Sunday.
But simmering problems such as Ukraine could yet intrude again during Obama’s two-night Malaysian stay.
Obama said on Friday in Seoul that Washington had already lined up more targeted sanctions against Russia “that are ready to go.”
US officials have said the measures would only be considered if Russia sent regular forces into volatile eastern Ukraine.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU foreign ministers would meet soon to discuss the issue.
“Given the absence of progress, we have to think about and not just think about, but act on the option of new sanctions,” Merkel said.
In Malaysia, Obama will tread a line between courting Najib and acknowledging the huge numbers in the multi-cultural nation who are fed up with the corruption-plagued coalition in power for 57 years.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim called the government a “corrupt and authoritarian regime” in a statement Saturday, urging Obama to stand up for “freedom and democracy.”
Obama’s four-nation tour of Asia began in Japan, where he offered Abe assurances that the US was treaty-bound to act if China moved militarily against Japanese-controlled islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute.
Obama meets Malaysia’s king Saturday and attends a state dinner.
On Sunday, he visits the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur and has talks with Najib, before a “town hall” meeting with youth leaders from around Southeast Asia.
He leaves Monday morning for the Philippines.
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