Asia-Pacific countries including China sign world’s biggest free-trade agreement

Fifteen nations in the Asia-Pacific region, including China, Japan and South Korea, have entered into the world's largest free-trade agreement, which they hope will accelerate the recovery of their economies, ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), plus five other Asia-Pacific countries (South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) signed on Sunday the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership" (RCEP), eight years after negotiations first began, on the final day of the 37th ASEAN Summit hosted virtually by Vietnam, due to the pandemic. It's the world’s biggest regional free-trade agreement in terms of gross domestic product, encompassing nearly a third of the world’s population and GDP, as the trade pact covers 2.2 billion people with a combined GDP of $26.2 trillion.

While China already has a number of bilateral trade agreements, this is the first time it has signed up to a regional multilateral trade pact. It is seen as an extension of China's influence in the region.

"Under the current global circumstances, the fact the RCEP has been signed after eight years of negotiations brings a ray of light and hope amid the clouds," said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

RCEP deal excludes the US, which withdrew from a rival Asia-Pacific trade pact in 2017.

The new free trade bloc will be bigger than both the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the European Union.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership covers trade, services, investment, e-commerce, telecommunications and copyright. The agreement will bolster pandemic-weakened economies by reducing tariffs, strengthening supply chains with common rules of origin, and codifying new e-commerce rules within the bloc.

However, environmental protection and labor rights are not part of the deal.

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Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54949260
https://www.dw.com/en/asia-pacific-nations-sign-worlds-biggest-free-trade-agreement/a-55604659
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-15/asia-pacific-nations-sign-the-world-s-biggest-trade-deal
https://www.euronews.com/2020/11/15/asia-pacific-countries-including-china-sign-world-s-biggest-trade-pact