Asia Trade Pact Draws US Allies Toward China
Voice of America
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.
Analysts in Australia and New Zealand — both signatories to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP — have a more mixed view of the agreement, suggesting it holds both benefits and challenges for the United States. Concluded in November 2020 after eight years of negotiations, RCEP embraces all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Collectively the countries account for about 30% of global GDP. China, Japan and two ASEAN countries have already ratified the pact. To take effect it must still be ratified by four more ASEAN members and one more non-ASEAN member.A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's rocket launch during a news program at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, May 27, 2024. FILE - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks to reporters in Colombo, July 29, 2023. FILE - A TV screen shows a report of North Korea's spy satellite into orbit with its third launch attempt this year with an image of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 22, 2023.
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.