Asia forms world’s biggest free trade bloc

Economic partner: Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is pictured on the screen (right) as he addresses his counterparts during the RCEP Summit at the Asean summit held online in Hanoi. the RCEP may cement China’s position more firmly as an economic partner with South-East Asia, Japan and South Korea. — AFP

HANOI: Fifteen Asia-Pacific economies have formed the world’s largest free trade bloc, a China-backed deal that excludes the United States, which had left a rival Asia-Pacific grouping under President Donald Trump.

The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at a regional summit in Hanoi is a further blow to the group pushed by former US president Barack Obama, which his successor Trump exited in 2017.