Anchor: Fifteen Asia-Pacific countries, including South Korea, on Sunday signed a mega FTA deal called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement(RCEP). The RCEP deal brings together the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN), South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand in the world's largest trade agreement. 
As our Kim Bum-soo reports, the pact carries symbolic implications after almost four years of trade protectionism. 

Report:  

[Sound bite: Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Vietnamese/Nov. 15 RCEP signing ceremony)]
"And I am delighted to say that after eight years of hard work, as of today, we have officially brought the RCEP negotiation to a conclusion for signing." 

After nearly four years of trade protectionism under U.S. President Donald Trump's reign, the ten ASEAN member countries, South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand set up the world's largest free trade agreement. 

In the video-linked summit on Sunday hosted by the Vietnamese prime minister, the 15 Asia-Pacific countries established the world’s largest trading bloc, known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP, which covers almost a third of the global population and GDP.

[Sound bite: Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Vietnamese/Nov. 15 RCEP signing ceremony)] 
"I believe that the RCEP agreement will soon be approved by countries and be realized in the time to come, contributing to the recovery process of economies following the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing common prosperity to people and businesses of all member countries."

According to Seoul's presidential office, President Moon Jae-in said at the summit that the launch of what he called the "mega economic community" sounded the alarm over global trade protectionism. 

Without the participation of the U.S., the RCEP will further reduce tariffs and open up services trade among the participating countries. 

Between South Korea and the ASEAN countries, which already signed an FTA, sectorial tariff elimination will expand from the current 80 percent to 90 percent under the RCEP

Economics Professor Yang Jun-sok at the Catholic University of Korea says the pact will serve as a counterweight against Trump's America First policy.

[Sound bite: Prof. Yang Jun-sok - Economics Dep't, Catholic University of Korea]
"Reportedly, after President Trump dropped out of the TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, the negotiations accelerated just because Trump was turning so anti-global economics that a lot of countries thought there had to be sort of a counterweight to put on the side of the more globalized economy. So reportedly the negotiations sped up after President Trump removed the U.S. from the TPP. But further, symbolically, because this is a mega FTA with a lot of Asian economies, it does point out that Asia does want to become a trading bloc, that they do have confidence in a global economy and there will be more interdependence in the future among Asian economies, so I think the symbolic weight is actually quite important."

Professor Liu Baocheng at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing pointed out that the China-led RCEP is an alternative to the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership or TPP, which Trump dropped out of on his third day at the White House. 

[Sound bite: Prof. Liu Baocheng - Univ. of International Business and Economics]
"I think now, for China in particular, you know when TPP was designed to exclude China by including many of those ASEAN countries and this can really help China to diffuse some of the hostilities created by the U.S. government. Even though Joe Biden sits in the office and resume its position with TPP, but this cross-strategy can really help China to mitigate some of the barriers that are still there, for trade, for export to the United States because you know Chinese businesses can easily spread out their investment into many other neighboring countries with this RCEP."

Ahead of the power shift to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, political analysts said the American president will be mired in other thorny issues in domestic politics before eventually moving on to the issue of whether to rejoin the TPP.

The economic bloc of the RCEP will represent two-point-26 billion people, or about 30 percent of the world's population. While signing the deal, RCEP member countries left the door open for India to rejoin after the world's second-most populated country dropped out due to fears of market-opening requirements.  
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.