NewsWrap '20 – Select 5: Trade

Fifteen countries across the Asia-Pacific signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement on November 15, creating the world’s largest trading bloc that is expected to help accelerate the member nations’ growth following the covid-19 pandemic. The deal excludes the United States and India, which pulled out of the agreement in 2019 over concerns about cheap Chinese goods entering the country. The RCEP comprises 10 Southeast Asian countries, as well as South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The agreement was signed on the final day of the 37^th ASEAN Summit hosted virtually by Vietnam. Officials took turns signing copies of the agreement and showing them off on camera at the virtual summit.

USMCA enters into force from July 1

The US Trade Representative notified Congress that Canada and Mexico had taken measures necessary to comply with their commitments under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), and that the agreement entered into force on July 1. The agreement contains significant improvements and modernised approaches. It covers rules of origin, agricultural market access, intellectual property, digital trade, financial services, labour and numerous other sectors. The US was the last of the countries to notify the other parties that it had completed its domestic procedures to implement the agreement—the final step necessary for the USMCA to enter into force.

WTO goods barometer confirms steep drop in trade

Slowdown in G20 trade restrictions due to COVID-19: WTO

China overtakes US to turn EU’s biggest trading partner

China overtook the US in the third quarter of the year to turn the EU’s biggest trading partner. Over the first nine months of 2020, trade between the EU and China totalled €425.5 billion ($514 billion), while trade between the EU and the United States was worth €412.5 billion, according to Eurostat data. For the same period last year, the EU’s trade with China and the United States were worth €413.4 billion and €461 billion respectively. The result was due to a 4.5 per cent increase in imports from China while exports remained unchanged. At the same time trade with the United States recorded a significant drop in both imports (-11.4 per cent) and exports (-10.0 per cent).

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Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)