Singapore’s trade minister said on Saturday that broad agreement on the world’s biggest trade deal should be reached at a summit of leaders from participating nations in the city-state in November, six years since talks began.
Called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the trade accord includes the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) -- Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the world’s second-largest economy, China.
The deal does not include the United States, which is locked in a trade spat with China and pulled out of another broad, international trade agreement in 2017 called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The White House said on Friday that US President Donald Trump would skip the November gathering of leaders in Singapore.
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Asked by Reuters after a meeting of regional economic ministers if participating countries were working towards a deal in time for the mid-November summit, Trade Minister Chan Chun Sing said:
“Yes. We are looking for that broad agreement, that milestone, to be achieved ... when the leaders meet at the end of the year.”
However, he said it was not clear when a final deal would be signed.
“As to the next phase of the work, once we have crossed that milestone we will have a clearer idea ... It’s a bit too early to say at this point in time,” Mr Sing said.
