RCEP

RCEP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, is a free trade agreement among 15 Asia-Pacific economies. The bloc comprises the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) plus Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. India participated in negotiations but withdrew in 2019, and is not a member. Together, RCEP accounts for a large share of global trade, with a significant portion of the world’s population and GDP represented within its frameworks.

Negotiations for RCEP began in 2012 and culminated in an agreement signed on November 15, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The treaty entered into force on January 1, 2022 for a subset of signatories that had completed their ratifications, with other members joining as they completed domestic approval processes. The agreement operates as a framework with individual schedules for each member, reflecting their specific commitments.

The core aims of RCEP are to facilitate freer trade in goods and services, expand investment, and deepen regional economic integration. It includes provisions on tariff reductions, streamlined rules of origin, and enhanced cooperation in areas such as e-commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, competition policy, and economic and technical cooperation. The framework also addresses dispute settlement and mechanisms for joint economic innovation and supply chain resilience, while allowing for long-term tariff elimination over time, typically spanning up to two decades.

RCEP has been described as the world’s largest free trade bloc by GDP and population, signaling a shift in regional trade dynamics. Its impact on member economies hinges on implementation pace, sector-specific exemptions, and how stakeholders adapt to integrated regional rules.