Kuala lumpur: Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China signed an upgraded free trade agreement on Tuesday, expected to cover areas such as the digital economy, the green economy, and other emerging industries.
According to Thai News Agency, the so-called version 3.0 of the ASEAN free trade agreement came into effect at the ASEAN leaders' summit in Malaysia, which US President Donald Trump attended on Sunday at the start of his multi-nation tour of Asia. Negotiations for the upgraded ASEAN-China deal began in November 2022 and concluded in May this year, shortly after Trump's tariffs began. The two sides' first free trade agreement came into effect in 2010.
China has previously indicated that the agreement will pave the way for better market access between China and ASEAN in sectors such as agriculture, the digital economy, and pharmaceuticals. ASEAN, with its 11 members, is China's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$771 billion last year, according to ASEAN statistics.
China is aiming to increase cooperation with ASEAN, a region with a combined GDP of $3.8 trillion, in response to massive import tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump's administration on countries around the world. Beijing has been trying to position itself as a more open economy despite facing criticism from other powers for extending export restrictions on rare earths and other critical minerals.
Both China and ASEAN are part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest trade bloc, covering nearly a third of the world's population and accounting for about 30 percent of global gross domestic product. Malaysia hosted the RCEP summit in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, marking its first such meeting in five years.