Tracing Global Value Chains in the RCEP Domain

This paper links the ENVISAGE computable general equilibrium model with a microsimulation to assess the economic effects of implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Reductions of tariffs and non-tariff measures, implementation of a rule of origin, together with productivity gains stemming from trade cost reductions strengthens regional trade among RCEP members. The analysis indicate that tariff liberalization alone brings little benefit, with real income gains of 0.21 percent relative to the baseline (without the RCEP) in 2035. With liberal rules of origin, the gains in real income could double to 0.49 percent. The biggest benefits accrue when the productivity gains are considered, increasing real income by 2.5 percent and trade among RCEP members by 12.3 percent in 2035 relative to the baseline. RCEP has the potential to lift 27 million additional people to middle-class status by 2035. These aggregate effects mask large variety of outcomes across countries.

Asia accounted for 167.1 million tons of global fisheries and aquaculture production, 75 percent of the world’s total. Seafood, especially aquaculture products, is a dominant and growing sector and crucial in the Asia-Pacific region for ensuring global food security, supporting sustainable livelihoods, reducing poverty for small-scale fisheries, and promoting environmental sustainability. However, amidst the current backdrop of the World Trade Organization (WTO)‘s inefficiency and dysfunctional mechanism, coupled with a slowdown in global economic growth and the resurgence of trade unilateralism and protectionism, these challenges have created significant barriers to trade, limiting market access and hindering the sustainable growth of the seafood industry. The implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) offers Asia-Pacific economies a promising opportunity to expand trade and stimulate economic growth sustainably. In this study, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the potential effects of the RCEP on aquatic products trade among the parties. A key marginal contribution in our study is that we adjusted the existing tariff rates under other FTAs to the same period as tariff rates under RCEP and compared the concession rates between these different FTAs to clearly illustrate the potential tariff effects of RCEP. On the non-tariff side, we analyze specific provisions in the RCEP agreement that could potentially affect aquatic products trade and evaluate their possible impacts. The results showed that, as of 2022, in almost all RCEP parties, the average tariffs under the RCEP agreement are generally higher than those under other existing FTAs, which indicates that the tariff concession efforts under RCEP are limited for most parties. However, due to certain progressiveness compared to other FTAs in terms of its provisions on non-tariff measures, such as rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) regulations, etc., RCEP has the potential to benefit a broader range of countries and products, making market access more convenient and inclusive for the seafood industry.

Over the last two decades, the number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) including provisions on electronic commerce (e-commerce) or digital trade displayed explosive growth. This phenomenon was especially notable in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), a region that has demonstrated rapid development of e-commerce. This article provides an up-to-date review of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, focusing on its e-commerce chapter (Chapter 12). By evaluating the change in trends and developments of APAC PTAs covering digital trade, it demonstrates where the RCEP stands. The RCEP E-Commerce chapter is compared to the one in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), to assess the scope of coverage along with points of convergence and divergence. The article also investigates the World TradeOrganization (WTO)’s Joint Statement Initiative on e-commerce (JSI) and how the provisions in the latest text being negotiated compare to the e-commerce chapters in the RCEP and CPTPP. The article assesses the RCEP’s key implications. Its core value lies on it being an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - driven negotiation that encompasses the three digital powerhouses of Northeast Asia (China, Japan and South Korea), promoting regional economic integration by bringing together many members who did not have prior common commitments while providing a flexible approach, through variations in schedules and broad exceptions to cater for national sensitivities. Electronic Commerce, Digital Trade, Asia-Pacific, Preferential Trade Agreements, RCEP, CPTPP, World Trade Organization, Joint State Initiative on E-commerce

The Sino-US competition in the Indo-Pacific has become a central issue in international relations and how the competition of both countries affects state behavior. This article attempts to provide explanations of India's behavior in deciding to leave the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement by using the neoclassical realism theory. Neoclassical realism believes that the actors' behavior is influenced by the constellation of international structures and domestic constellations. India's exit from RCEP was influenced by structural changes in the Indo-Pacific region, with the loss of China's balance of power marked by the withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Moreover, the condition has been exacerbated by the pressure received by Narendra Modi at the domestic level with the emergence of rejection of India's involvement in RCEP. It has influenced Narendra Modi's perception, who was active in the region with the two factors above, decided to resign from RCEP.

The withdrawal of India from negotiations on the world’s largest trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), in November 2019 was a major setback for proponents of regional economic unity. This paper tries to evaluate India’s concerns and also the way forward for India. A review of trade between RCEP countries post-implementation is done to analyze India’s stand against joining the block. India decided to opt out of the agreement because of adverse trade balance, impact on the dairy sector, economic slowdown, experience with Free trade agreements (FTAs), China factor, data localization, rules of origin, and the experience of ASEAN countries with Sino-FTA have been some of the factors responsible for this decision. Bilateral trade agreements with Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Rep.and ASEAN were already in place. So, trade between India and 12 RCEP member countries would not have changed after India’s inclusion in RCEP. There was fear of a massive surge in imported manufactures from China and dairy imports from Australia and New Zealand. This paper also evaluates the long-term repercussions of this decision and whether India missed out on becoming part of the global value chain n having greater market access through this block. India’s experience following protectionist policies did not yield the desired results in the past. So, an in-depth analysis has been done to validate if India has made a mistake by not joining RCEP or if India’s concerns and fears were justified and its regional future.

As a well-established trading bloc, rules of origin (ROO) for ASEAN are expected to benefit member states’ businesses by providing preferential tariff treatment which is the fundamental purpose of trade liberalization. However, these rules are prevented from being applied thoroughly due to the lack of government trust in certain member states in business actors and targets of duty collection for customs authorities. The self-certification by business actors has proven to be a solution to the problem but ASEAN A-X Formula may be counterproductive to ROO, eliminating the foundation of regionalization and potentially causing trade deflection. The First Protocol of ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) amendment simplifies the procedure of operational certification for ROO. Furthermore, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as a significant trading pact including ASEAN members and five major trading partners has adopted proof of origin allowing self-certification applied earlier in the European Union and NAFTA. Alternative solutions should also be explored since distrust and national financial interests have not been resolved. Recently, blockchain embedded with smart contracts has been applied in various business sectors which should be further applied in free trade area (FTA) applications. Blockchain’s characteristics as an immutable ledger originating from the hashing process and cryptography would address the problem of ASEAN ROO application. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of ROO within ASEAN and RCEP. A literature review and doctrinal study methodology were applied in this analysis.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement was signed in 2020 as a giant free trade agreement signed by 15 countries, including China. In this context, the RCEP agreement is the world's largest free trade agreement in terms of GDP and trade volume. In this study, commercial relations between RCEP countries between 2012 (the year when negotiations of the RCEP agreement began) and 2021 were examined using social network analysis. In the analyses, export values of RCEP countries to each other were used and the data were obtained from Trade Map. In the study, social network analyzes for the years 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2021 were analyzed using the Ucinet program, while trade networks were visualized with the Gephi program. For social network analyses, basic ego network indicators, degree centrality values, hub and authority centrality values and eigenvector values were calculated. As a result of the analysis, it is seen that the hub and authority country in trade between RCEP countries is China for all four years (2012, 2015, 2018 and 2021). On the other hand, it has been determined that China's most important trade partners are Japan and South Korea. Additionally, the development in Vietnam's trade level during this period is remarkable.

INTRODUCTION In the past decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has evolved rapidly to become one of the key emerging regional institutions in the world. As one of its key agendas, ASEAN has promoted progressive regional integration alongside the reduction of the intra-regional development gap. The process of ASEAN integration has been wide-ranging and inclusive, leading to significant benefits to members, even the less-developed ones such as Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV). Although the “CLMV growth story is one ASEAN success story with lessons … on the potential benefits of economic integration” (ERIA 2014), maintaining the momentum for further improvement is essential. The idea of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is not new. The initiative actually represents a continuation of the “Concentric Circle Strategy”, which gradually builds on ASEAN integration in the form of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to be created by 2015 and ASEAN-plus integration with “ASEAN centrality”. The RCEP was initiated by ASEAN itself in 2011 with the Association's Framework for RCEP. In 2012, leaders of all sixteen economies — including ASEAN members, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India — supported and agreed to launch the RCEP negotiations. Fundamentally, the RCEP resembles the various efforts around the region for broader regional integration, such as the East Asian Free Trade Area (EAFTA) initiative by China and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) proposal by Japan. Since the RCEP originates from ASEAN's aspirations, a couple of natural questions arise. The first is whether the RCEP arrangement can be really effective for sustaining growth and narrowing the development gap in the CLMV countries. The second question is whether the RCEP can benefit from the AEC framework. In answering these questions, one may need to start by identifying their possible impacts on these member economies. Complications introduced by the new context of Asia-Pacific integration — i.e., the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations — should also be considered carefully even though not all the CLMV countries participate directly in the process. These questions and issues constitute the main analytical focus of this chapter. The remainder of the chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 summarizes the main possible impacts of the RCEP on the CLMV countries.

Recent decades have witnessed an increasing integration of developing countries into global value chains (GVCs). This growing participation in global production sharing has raised hopes for economic upgrading within such value chains. However, globalization has intensified international competition, and achieving economic upgrading is not an easy task. Moreover, the social consequences of participating in GVCs are not always positive; however, they have received considerably less attention in the literature. This paper suggests a simple and parsimonious approach to measuring economic and social upgrading (and downgrading) in GVCs. Applying this parsimonious methodology and using quantitative secondary data, we analyze how widespread upgrading has been in four selected manufacturing GVCs: apparel, wood furniture, automotive, and mobile phones. We also investigate to what extent downgrading is part of the reality and undertake a comparative analysis across GVCs, regions and country groups (developing vs. developed countries). We find that the promise of industrial upgrading through participation in GVCs does not materialize for everyone. Indeed, economic upgrading has taken place in just over a quarter of the countries in our sample, among them mainly developing countries. Finally, we examine the relationship between economic performance and social performance in the different GVCs to investigate whether or not economic upgrading is typically associated with social upgrading. While patterns differ across GVCs, we find that economic upgrading is more likely to occur simultaneously with social upgrading than without, and vice versa. Our analysis, thus, suggests that economic upgrading is conducive to, but not sufficient for, social upgrading to occur.

Zhang, Y. and Yang, M., 2020. The measurement and influence of trade cost of aquatic products in global value chain. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 273–277. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.This paper uses the expanded value-added trade gravity model to measure the bilateral value-added trade cost of China's aquaculture industry, and on this basis, uses the dynamic panel data to empirically study the impact of the global value chain position on the value-added trade cost of China's aquaculture industry. The results show that the traditional trade statistics underestimate the foreign trade cost of China's aquaculture industry, and the distortion does exist; the value-added trade cost of China's aquaculture industry as a whole shows a downward trend, but there are obvious heterogeneity in different technology level industries and trading partner countries; further research shows that the role of China's aquaculture industry in global value chain is the key factor to effectively reduce the cost of bilateral value-added trade. Therefore, it is an important way to promote the sustainable and smooth development of China's aquaculture industry to enhance the value chain division, reduce trade costs and promote trade facilitation.

This chapter examines the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement in general, as well as analyse the recent status of ICT infrastructure of RCEP member countries. It primarily focuses on the RCEP, which was signed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand in order to expand and strengthen engagements with one another and their relationships to Industry 4.0, whereby the potential issues and solutions are discussed in greater depth. It also highlights the security and privacy issues and thoughts on how 4IR might help countries improve their economies over the long term. The chapter includes reflections on experiences as well as an analysis of how the information contained in the agreement affects the growth of the RCEP agreement

The signing and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have provided crucial external opportunities for the high-quality development of China's agricultural products trade. This paper uses the social network analysis method to characterize the agricultural products trade network, and utilizes the extended gravity model to analyze the influencing factors in agricultural products trade within the RCEP region. The results show that: (1) The spatial cohesion of the global agricultural products trade network continues to increase, the connectivity is significantly improved, and the trade scale continues to expand, with a distinctive "center-periphery" structure. (2) RCEP member countries demonstrate a clear trend of diversified import patterns, coupled with steady growth in exports. The number of global agricultural products trade partners continues to rise, leading to a differentiation in trade status and gradually forming a single-core structure centered around China. (3) The improvement in the quality of economic institutions and the signing of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) contribute to enhancing the agricultural products trade environment, reducing trade costs, and promoting agricultural products trade. It is suggested that China should fully utilize the opportunity of RCEP implementation, exert its core influence within the RCEP region, promote the implementation of RECP high-quality rules, form a highly complementary agricultural products market within the region, and enhance the export competitiveness of agricultural products.

This paper links global value chain (GVC) integration and operations of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the context of host economies upgrading. Economic upgrading is referred to as higher exported value added that has been generated in the domestic economy as a result of foreign direct investment (FDI). Particular attention is paid to the impact of GVC on selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies. An econometric model is estimated using panel data of 44 sectors for four CEE economies over the period 1995–2018. A primary source of data is the latest edition of the TiVA (Trade in Value Added). The most important variable in explaining domestic contribution to GVC was the flow of foreign inputs. Backward linkages are crucial for building the GVC presence of the economies. The variables of interest – FDI stocks and flows – have in general a negative impact on the level of domestic content in analysed economies.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP): Progress and Challenges

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP ) is a vital framework in furthering regional and global economic integration amidst heightened protectionism and anti-globalisation sentiments. The paper tries to discern how the RCEP , as one of the largest trade agreements in the world, serves to stimulate economic integration within the Asia-Pacific area through trade liberalisation, encouraging investment flows, and integrating regional supply chains. The paper further studies the possibility of the RCEP serving as a global trade agreement model through regulatory harmonisation, lowering trade barriers, and fostering sustainable economic practices. The paper also considers the implications of the RCEP on small and medium-sized enterprises ( SME s) and local industries to demonstrate how it supports inclusive growth and regional economic resilience. In addition, the paper offers critical perspectives and comparative analysis, highlighting the RCEP ’s limited commitments on labour and environmental standards relative to agreements like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership ( CPTPP ) and the European Union ( EU ) Single Market. Ultimately, the RCEP represents a pragmatic step toward economic integration, but its long-term significance will depend on whether it evolves into a platform that balances economic ambition with stronger social, environmental, and institutional commitments.