The world’s biggest trade bloc may be coming together soon as Asian trade ministers signaled the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) could be signed by the end of the year.
On Sunday, representatives from the 16 nations included in the RCEP met in Tokyo to work out any remaining disagreements. The gathering comes as the Trump administration has shunned some of the globe’s key multilateral trade agreements, saying they have hurt the U.S. economy.
Although the U.S is not included in RECP, key countries like China, Japan, and India are participants. The partnership aims to include the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well, and if completed, would make up one-third of the world’s economy.
Japan has a vested interest in completing trade deals in the region after Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the proposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would have liberalized trade across the Asian-Pacific region. That accord would have excluded China.
Negotiators say there is still work to be done to nail down the RECP.
“There are still challenges to the global trading system,” said Singapore’s trade minister, Chan Chun Sing, to a media conference.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he worries the U.S under Mr. Trump is becoming increasingly “protectionist,” and is calling his global neighbors to action.
“As we are faced with concerns of the rise of protectionism in the world, all of us in Asia must unite, and our future depends on whether we can keep hoisting our flagship principle of free and fair trade,” Mr. Abe told reporters Sunday.
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