Xi Says China Ready To Consider Joining Trans-Pacific Partnership

China endorses the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and is ready to consider joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, Chinese President Xi Jinping told an online summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Friday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2020) China endorses the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and is ready to consider joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, Chinese President Xi Jinping told an online summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Friday.

At the one-day online summit hosted by Malaysia, the leaders of APEC states focused on concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic and discussed the issues of cooperation within the forum's framework. The summit resulted in the adoption of the 2020 Kuala Lumpur Declaration.

"China endorses the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ... and will favorably consider the issue of joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership," Xi said.

The RCEP is a major free-trade agreement between China and the other 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which are home to almost one third of the global population.

The agreement was signed on Sunday during an online ceremony on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN summit.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is a free trade agreement that lowered tariffs and other trade barriers on a wide range of products among 10 countries of Asia and Oceania, and Canada. The agreement came into force on December 30, 2018, when its first six parties ratified the deal. Initially, the trade deal was expected to cover 40 percent of the global economy but failed to achieve it as the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2017. This decision opened TTP's door for China.