RCEP: The Next Trade Deal You Need to Know About

CNBC

14 October 2015

The conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement last week could speed up talks on its lesser-known Asia-wide equivalent, trade analysts say.

Negotiators working on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are currently in the middle of a week-long meeting, the 10th of its kind, in Busan, South Korea.

“I am not 100 percent sure whether the RCEP deal will be struck as soon as this week but the stakes are now higher for RCEP members, especially those that are not in the TPP, because they realize that they are losing out,” said Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

“This mindset of ‘losing out’ could tempt these non-TPP countries in RCEP to reach a deal very soon,” she added in an email interview with CNBC.

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Last updated on 13/11/2015