NEGOTIATORS from 16 Asian countries are meeting in the Japanese port city of Kobe this week for talks on a regional trade pact seen as a rival to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) rejected by U.S. President Donald Trump.

    China is not part of the TPP but is playing a leading role in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, which faces hurdles of its own in the talks, which started yesterday and will end Friday.

    After taking office last month, Trump withdrew from the Pacific Rim-based TPP, which now includes 11 countries from Chile to New Zealand. The United States is not a part of the RCEP initiative.

    This is the first time negotiators from the RCEP countries have gathered since U.S.’ withdrawal from the TPP free trade agreement.

    RCEP members include some of Asia’s poorest countries, such as Laos and Myanmar, as well as some of its richest. Reaching consensus over tariffs, trade in services and restrictions on investments in key industries has proven tricky since the talks were launched in 2013.

    Apart from Japan and China, RCEP members include Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and some other leaders of other TPP member countries have said they hope to persuade Trump to reconsider his rejection of the trade pact, which was a centerpiece of U.S. economic policy in Asia during the previous administration.

    Trump has said he prefers bilateral deals. He has also pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and to impose a border tax to compel manufacturers to move more production back to the United States from overseas.

    Such moves have raised uncertainty in Asia, where many countries have prospered thanks to freer trade and the expansion of global supply chains. RCEP member countries accounted for nearly a fifth of U.S. goods imports in 2016, with China accounting for half of that, or just over 20 percent.

    The RCEP was conceived as an expansion of Southeast Asian trade ties with China, India, Australia and Japan. It includes New Zealand and South Korea, which already have free trade pacts with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It would cover almost half the world’s population and 30 percent of the global economy.

    ASEAN members “now see RCEP coming into play,” according to Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, senior policy fellow at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia and a former secretary-general of Malaysia’s trade ministry.

    The RCEP covers investment, intellectual property and economic and technical cooperation. It would introduce dispute-resolution mechanisms. Unlike the TPP it would not require members to protect labor rights or improve environmental standards.

    India is arguing for greater liberalization of services, a sector that contributes over 50 percent to its gross domestic product and affects the movement of labor across borders. A particular sticking point is loosening rules to make it easier for its IT workers to move abroad.

    Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said there’s a stand-off between “India and several other countries” on the issue of a special business travel card. (SD-Agencies)