RCEP: 15 Asia-Pacific countries form world's largest trading bloc

15 Asia Pacific countries have signed the world’s biggest free trade deal, led by China, on 15 November 2020, on the sidelines of the 37th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit.
The deal called as ‘Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)’, is the world’s largest trading bloc, comprising of 10 Southeast Asian countries, as well as South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Members of the RCEP accounts for nearly a third of the world’s population and around 29% of global gross domestic product (GDP).

What is RCEP?

Negotiations over the RCEP began in 2012.
India had ended negotiation on RCEP in November 2019, while US pulled out in 2017.
RCEP aims to achieve a modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement among the Asean member states and its FTA (free trade agreement) partners.
The agreement will put into place a common set of rules to qualify for tariffs reduction with other RCEP members. This means less procedures and easier movement of goods among member nations.