Macroscope | Under the RCEP, Asia will be free to pursue its own aims rather than those of the US
- Trade deals are all too often used as weapons by advanced economies to exploit developing nations
- With the absence of the US, the newly formed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership charts a less interventionist path for Asian countries
Proceeding by small steps can often be more effective than attempting a giant leap forward in getting where you wish to go. There is less chance of being forced into a retreat from an overambitious advance and, if you wish to carry others forward with you, there’s less danger of them getting left behind.
As the world’s top trading nation and second-largest economy (and because of the absence of the United States), China is the dominant partner within the RCEP. Yet, for all its alleged assertiveness, China is unlikely to use the RCEP as a battering ram – as the US was poised to do with the TPP.
For a start, countries in this region will be freer to move at their own pace and in directions they wish to go rather than having their development agendas largely dictated to them by outside powers whose own priorities do not necessarily accord with domestic priorities in Asia.