The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact was signed on Sunday, a trade effort that includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and 10 Southeast Asian nations. The pact still needs to be ratified by national governments before going into effect.
It will take some time for that ratification and even longer for tariff modifications under the pact to take effect. The agreement was initiated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2012 and takes most of the existing agreements signed by the 10 ASEAN countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — and combines them into a single multilateral pact with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
The 15 participating countries account for nearly 30% of both world population and global trade. The U.S. is not part of the accord.
India also opted out of the deal, expressing concern that it would unleash a lot of cheap imports into their market and negatively impact India producers.