SYR Charts, page-34

https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2020/1115/America-First-China-leads-Asia-into-biggest-free-trade-deal

Biggest Free Trade Deal in the WORLD.

Apart from the 10 ASEAN members, it includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Officials said the accord leaves the door open for India, which dropped out due to fierce domestic opposition to its market-opening requirements, to rejoin the bloc.

It will take time to fully assess exact details of the agreement encompassing tariff schedules and rules for all 15 countries involved — the tariffs schedule just for Japan is 1,334 pages long.

It is not expected to go as far as the European Union in integrating member economies but does build on existing free trade arrangements.

The deal has powerful symbolic ramifications, showing that nearly four years after Trump launched his “America First" policy of forging trade deals with individual countries, Asia remains committed to multi-nation efforts toward freer trade that are seen as a formula for future prosperity.