RCEP Talks Stall As Rival TPP Reemerges

As negotiators seek to wrap up the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact they are facing a new challenge with the resurgence of the rival Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.When President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from TPP shortly after taking office, Asia Pacific nations turned their focus to RCEP. Now, the 11 remaining TPP members are making an effort to resurrect that deal, while progress has stalled on RCEP.The goal of an agreement by end-year on RCEP, which includes China, India and Japan, but not the U.S., will not be reached, according to chief negotiator Iman Pambagyo. Still, a bigger concern for him is that some RCEP members may exit the deal to prioritize TPP, a pact that does not include China."Perhaps down the road, toward the end of the year, someone will say, 'That's enough for me. We're not joining at this point. We will join on some other date,'" Pambagyo said in an interview earlier this week. It is possible the pact could lose two to three members, he remarked. He did not specify which countries were at risk of leaving.