By GARRET ROBINSON
Staff Writer
Recently, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been signed by Southeast Asian countries, along with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand which plans to eliminate a range of tariffs that are currently in place. This pact seems to be a way for China to extend its influence over the region, especially because the United States is not included in the deal, and the US withdrew from a previous agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a few years ago. Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist, has stated that, “Its membership includes a larger group of nations, notably reflecting the membership of China, which considerably boosts the total Gross Domestic Product of RCEP members”. Many of the leaders from the countries in this agreement hope that this will help with the recovery of their economies from the coronavirus pandemic. This agreement will also be monumental because it will be bigger than the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and even the European Union, but the world will find out soon if China will take full advantage of this agreement because of their massive manufacturing power and their growing global influence.
