Analyzing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP): Is China now the leader of Global Free Trade Movements?

On November 15th, fifteen countries in the Asia Pacific region signed the largest free trade pact in history creating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. These 15 countries account for approximately 30% of global GDP as well as 30% of the world’s population in 2020. The trade pact is expected to eliminate about 90% of tariffs on imports between its signatories within 20 years of coming into force.

The trade deal, which is was brokered by the ASEAN countries, includes China, Japan and Australia but excludes both the U.S. and India. It is seen as a triumph for China especially since this agreement is larger than the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Agreement which was instigated and negotiated by the Obama Administration but rejected by Trump on his first day in office in 2016.

In this webinar we will explore the key facets of the RCEP and discuss why India and the U.S. declined to participate. Should we now consider China the leader of the global free trade movement? With the U.S. on the sidelines what negative impact does the signing of the RCEP signal for U.S. businesses and what impacts might non-participation have on Washington based businesses?

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Moderator:

Edward Alden is the Ross Distinguished Visiting Professor at the College of Business and Economics at Western Washington University. He is also a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington D.C. and the author of “Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy”. He was the project director for the Council’s Independent Task Force report “The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills and Leadership” in the 21st Century. His first book, The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11, was a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas book prize. He has testified to Congress many times, widely written for major newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, and appeared on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, PBS News Hour and Bloomberg Surveillance. Prior to joining the Council, Mr. Alden was the Washington Bureau Chief for the Financial Times.

Panelists:

Matthew P. Goodman is senior vice president for economics and holds the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS. The Economics Program, which he directs, examines current issues in international economic policy, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, Goodman served as director for international economics on the National Security Council staff, working on the G-20, APEC, and other presidential summits. Before joining the White House, he was senior adviser tothe undersecretary for economic affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He has also worked at the Albright Stonebridge Group, Goldman Sachs, and served as U.S. Treasury attaché in Tokyo. Goodman holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a BSc from the London School of Economics.

Badri Narayanan is an economist focusing on a variety of quantitative economic and inter-disciplinary models, to analyze a wide range of economic (mainly international trade), environmental/energy, technology, and public health policies. He is widely known for his contributions to develop the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) dataset and model extensions, at Purdue University. He has informed the process of decision making in several major economic policies such as free trade agreements, technology regulations, etc., both through his academic research and consulting/advisory projects.

Badri is currently affiliated with the School of Environmental and Forestry Sciences in University of Washington, Seattle. Badri is also a Senior Fellow, European Center for International Political Economy. He has been a consultant to several organizations such as McKinsey, KPMG, PWC, World Bank, UN, ADB, Harvard University, LSE, the Commonwealth Secretariat, etc. He has published over 100 papers and 5 books, in reputed journals such as Nature Communication, Energy Economics, Network and Spatial Economics, Economic Modelling, Applied Economics, Agricultural Economics, etc., and presented his work in over 30 countries across the world.