Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)What is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership? Signed in November 2020, the RCEP is a Free-Trade Agreement between 15 countries including the ASEAN nations, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. As of 2020, the member countries account for ~30% of the world’s population and ~30% of global GDP. In March 2021, China became the first signatory to ratify RCEP, around three months ahead of schedule. The agreement can be viewed as the regional answer to the failed Transatlantic Partnership and a complementation of the existing CPTPP. Its purpose is to eliminate tariff and non-tariff …