The ASEAN Secretariat together with the East Asia Business Council (EABC) recently hosted the “Unlocking RCEP for Business: Trade in Goods” webinar.

The signatories of the much-hyped Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are keenly watching the US moves towards China. Amid the raging debate over the origin of Covid 19, the US is moving fast towards building international support to isolate China.

U.S. trade experts are watching warily as the world’s biggest free trade pact advances slowly toward ratification and brings some of America’s closest Asian allies into an economic bloc that includes China but leaves the United States on the sidelines.

The ongoing US-China tensions can be a potential wildcard to the mass ratification and adoption of the RCEP

China’s tariff commitments to Japan and South Korea under RCEP is expected to boost their bilateral trade flows and create multilateral trade opportunities.

Japan ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement on June 25, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.

On November 15, 2020, after almost a 10-year negotiating process, the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea concluded the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement (FTA), which also contains many provisions covering areas beyond trade.

The Asean Business Advisory Council has urged the government to ratify the RCEP and the CPTPP by year-end.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam said Thursday that Hong Kong has sufficient conditions to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Hong Kong looks forward to commencing formal dialogues on its accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) when the partnership is ready to take on new members, a Hong Kong government official said on Saturday (June 5).