China: RCEP Expected to Expand Regional Ag Trade

China’s two-way agricultural trade with members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership increased to $123.5 billion in 2022, one year after the regional free trade agreement came into force. The trade growth is not directly attributed to tariff reductions, most of which are scheduled to reduce over a span of 10 years. Rather, the non-tariff rules focusing on trade facilitation, accumulative rules of origin, E-commerce options, and investment appear to have supported trade development in the region and should likely continue. Changing trade flows could present future challenges in some commodity sectors for the United States.