[ad_1]
It will represent 30% of the world economy and population and will reach 2.2 billion consumers.
It will represent 30% of the world economy and population and will reach 2.2 billion consumers.
2 ‘reading
Fifteen Asia-Pacific economies have formed the world’s largest free trade pact, a China-backed deal that excludes the United States.
The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Association (RCEP) at a regional summit in Hanoi is yet another blow to the agreement promoted by former US President Barack Obama, from which his successor Trump left in 2017. The RCEP could strengthen China’s position as an economic partner from Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea, putting the world’s second-largest economy in a better position to dictate the region’s trade rules.
Loading…
The United States is absent from both the RCEP and the successor to the Obama-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), leaving the world’s largest economy out of two trade deals that encompass the world’s fastest-growing region.
The RCEP could help Beijing reduce its dependence on foreign markets and technology, a shift accelerated by a deepening rift with Washington. RCEP brings together the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Over the next few years, it aims to progressively reduce tariffs in many sectors. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of an ASEAN online summit held as Asian leaders discussed tensions in the South China Sea and plans for post-pandemic economic recovery. India has not signed for fear of an increase in its trade deficit with China, but could join at a later date.
The pact will represent 30% of the world economy and population and will reach 2.2 billion consumers. China’s Finance Ministry said the new bloc’s promises include the removal of a series of tariffs, some immediately and others over a 10-year period. There are no details on which products and which countries would see an immediate tariff cut. . “For the first time, China and Japan have reached a bilateral tariff reduction agreement, reaching a historic turning point,” the ministry said.
