putting the ink on the world's largest
free trade agreement
in a virtual signing ceremony
the deal was sealed on the sidelines of
the asean summit
hosted by vietnam
the agreement brings together 15
asia-pacific countries
with a population of more than 2 billion
people
accounting for some 30 percent of the
global economy
the partnership was nearly a decade in
the making
it includes china the world's second
largest economy
but it leaves out top economic power the
united states
president donald trump quit previous
efforts to form a trans-pacific trade
bloc
members of this new pact hope the
further loosening of trade barriers
will lead to greater prosperity for the
asia-pacific region
this agreement signifies that our region
which has been the most
economically dynamic region of the world
in recent decades
is still committed to openness and to
trade
and that we will use that as a platform
and a springboard for recovery in the
post-covert era
the agreement is set to reduce tariffs
harmonize trade rules and streamline
supply chains
analysts say it may cement china's
position as asia's leading economic
power
allowing beijing to call the shots on
important trading terms from japan to
new zealand
china also stands to benefit by being
able to reduce its dependence on other
markets
such as the united states
to talk a little more about the
significance of this pact i'm joined now
by clifford coonan from dw business
clifford thanks for coming in
this is branded as a coup for china how
significant is it really for beijing
i think it's massively significant for
beijing this is
30 of global gdp and in the driving seat
very much as china um china uses trade
as a way to
um to outweigh various um
regional tensions politically and use
its economic muscle to get over the
political strains with a lot of its
neighbors over
uh the south china sea and um and other
areas
um you know the the it doesn't include
things that beijing is less happy about
talking about such environmental goals
or
anything to do with political areas such
as human rights so it's a big win for
beijing
how much does the united states stand to
lose by being excluded from this deal
well i think it's it's very significant
the us isn't in it it's a sign of what's
been going on the last four years with
the u.s looking inwards
um and it's we've seen other trade
trade deals fall because of this and uh
would
move away from multilateralism towards
uh just
looking inwards for the u.s um it's
going to be interesting to see now how
this how this will play out with joe
biden because he's
uh with the president-elect because he's
um presumably
more trade-friendly going on previous
democratic leaders he's more trade
friendly than donald trump
um but how that will play out of course
we'll have to wait and see
but it is significant the u.s isn't in
it because it's a pacific power as well
and and this is supposedly a pacific
deal so it's going to be a big factor
let's look at this new powerful block
from the european perspective
how is it likely to affect the eu well i
think
it will lead to cheaper goods in the in
europe that's one one positive
um it's again putting political pressure
on the eu to see how it's dealing with
china
you know the weighing up the political
versus uh the economic
and so it's going to have to see how it
can get um it can work with this this
new block
because within the block you've got um
the asian con the asean countries these
uh
these southeast asian countries uh with
whom the eu has very strong relations
and then you have
um strategic competitors like china so
there's a there's going to be
a lot of um rebalancing and a lot of
examination about how to move forward
for the eu
one very important economy in asia
that's missing from this trade deal
is india why is that well i think india
is a a big
a big omission or you know the fact it's
not there is very serious um
it's largely because of tensions with
china that it's not there
and i think it means going forward we're
going to have to see how uh
um if and the next trade deal will have
to have india in it or else it doesn't
really work
so let's say wait and see clifford
coonan of dw business thank you very
much
you