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WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Monday it was concerned that the United States would fall behind after 15 Asian-Pacific economies formed the world’s largest free trade bloc on Sunday, cementing the role. China’s dominant in regional trade.
The Chamber welcomed the trade liberalization benefits of the new Regional Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (RCEP), saying that US exporters, workers and farmers needed greater access to Asian markets. But he said Washington should not join the bloc.
RCEP covers 30% of the world economy and 30% of the world population, joining the Asian powers China, Japan and South Korea for the first time. Its goal in the coming years is to progressively reduce tariffs in many areas.
The United States is absent from both the RCEP and the successor to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), leaving the world’s largest economy out of two trade groups that encompass the world’s fastest-growing region.
Myron Brilliant, executive vice president of the House, said that the administration of US President Donald Trump had moved to tackle China’s unfair trade practices, but secured only limited new opportunities for US exporters in other parts of Asia.
Trump in early 2017 resigned from the TPP deal, which his predecessor, Barack Obama, had negotiated as part of a U.S. turn to Asia. Trump has not concluded any full new trade deals in Asia since then, Brilliant said.
“Given the shortcomings of RCEP, we would not recommend that the United States join,” Brilliant said, noting that recent US trade agreements have included stricter and more enforceable rules on topics such as digital trade, non-tariff barriers and intellectual property protections. .
“The United States should, however, adopt a more forward-looking strategic effort to maintain a strong US economic presence in the region,” he said.
“Otherwise, we run the risk of being on the outside looking inward as one of the world’s leading growth engines proceeds without us.”
Brilliant noted that US exports to the Asia-Pacific market had increased steadily in recent decades, but that the market share of US companies had declined.
He underscored the importance of the Asia-Pacific market, citing forecasts that forecast an average growth rate of more than 5% in 2021 and a rapid expansion in the middle class. – Reuters
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