China, Asia-Pacific Countries Sign Historic Free Trade Agreement

China and 14 Asia-Pacific countries signed on Sunday a historic free trade agreement, covering 2.2 billion people and 30% of global economy.

Following eight years of negotiations, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed in a virtual summit.

The agreement included 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, along with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

The historic deal will boost cross-border investments, e-commerce, intellectual property, and will particularly enhance trade in finished goods between Asian countries, yet, not as integrating as the EU or the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.

[caption id="attachment_172930" align="aligncenter" width="1914"] Heads of states signing the RCEP during a virtual ceremony[/caption]

The deal is viewed as an important step toward removing trade barriers, and tariffs, as well as an expansion of Chinese influence. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang described the deal as a 'victory for multilateralism and free trade', according to Xinhua.

Meantime, inter-trade and investments have expanded dramatically over the past decade within the Asian continent amid the rift between the U.S. and China, as the two biggest economies imposed billion worth of tariffs on each other's exports, in one of the worse trade wars.

The agreement comes shortly after Joe Biden won the US presidential elections. Biden is expected to change US foreign policy on global issues, including an end to the trade war between the U.S. and China.