Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) A Trade Agreement among Equals?

The unequal partnership among the members of RCEP is one of the many criteria of Mega Regional Agreements, which can also be seen in the case of CPTPP. On one hand, the heterogeneous nature of member countries provides developed nations a deeper integration with emerging countries and thereby stimulates their growth. On the other hand, it leads to an increase in the difference of opinions and interests at the time of negotiations and sometimes to the withdrawal of countries before the finalisation of an agreement, like in the case of the United States (in TPP) and India (in RCEP). It has also been debated that RCEP pales in comparison to CPTPP as a Mega-Regional, which makes the countries, participating in both the agreements, vulnerable in more liberalised sectors. Moreover, different commitment levels among the regional countries may have adverse effects on the less developed nations in the grouping. This paper tries to highlight the dominance of some countries in RCEP and divergence in commitment levels of one, among RCEP members and two, RCEP and CPTPP, making the RCEP model unsustainable in the long run. To diversify their trade basket, RCEP members may seek India's participation in the agreement which would have economic and geo-strategic implications for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]