China'S Textile Industry Will Usher In A Low Tariff And Favorable Era When The Largest Free Trade Area Covering Nearly Half Of The World Is Ready To Come Out.

The negotiations on the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP), which lasted for 7 years, formally announced that the 15 member States concluded negotiations in the near future.

On November 6th, at the conference on RCEP negotiations held by the Information Office of the State Council, Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of Commerce and deputy representative of international trade negotiations, said that This marks a major breakthrough in the construction of a free trade area with the largest population, the most diverse member structure and the greatest potential for development.

RCEP, the full name "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership", was launched in 2012 by ASEAN, including ten ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, with a population of 3 billion 560 million and GDP amounting to US $22 trillion, with a total trade volume of US $1 trillion and 30 billion.

RCEP, by opening the market to each other, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and establishing a free trade agreement on regional economic integration between the 15 countries.

According to the Ministry of commerce data, RCEP covers 47.4% of the global population, 32.2% of global GDP, 29.1% of Global trade and 32.5% of global investment. It is currently the largest FTA negotiation in Asia, and is also the largest, largest and most influential FTA negotiations in China.

Although India has not joined this year, even if India does not participate, RCEP also covers 2 billion 233 million of the world's population. The name of the world's largest free trade zone is still deserved.

In the context of Global trade downturn (RCEP), the significance of this is even more significant. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts in the latest world economic outlook report. The growth of Global trade volume will drop sharply from 3.6% last year to 1.1% this year. That is far below the GDP3% growth rate.

The goal of RCEP is Eliminate internal trade barriers, create and perfect a free investment environment, and expand service trade. It will also involve many fields such as intellectual property protection, competition policy and so on. The degree of liberalization will be higher than that reached by ASEAN and the 5 countries (10+1 agreement). ASEAN plans to wait for 15 countries to build RCEP to a certain extent, and then to discuss the invitation to join the United States and Russia.

RCEP is put forward to deal with the development of economic globalization and regional economic integration. 。 As the WTO negotiations to promote global free trade are blocked, in the face of some negative effects of economic globalization, if we want to remain invincible and develop in the current world economy, we must Strengthening regional economic integration For this reason, Some countries have implemented "zero" tariffs, opening markets to each other, and working closely together to seek cooperation and development. 。

After achieving the unified regional rules of origin accumulation, the procurement of raw materials and the re export of goods by RCEP among member states can get a lower tax exemption threshold, thereby reducing costs and achieving optimal allocation of resources, thus contributing to the investment and trade of enterprises.

Compared with WTO, RCEP has a higher level of market access and more preferential policies, such as trade openness, investment and intellectual property protection.

Reduce US trade protectionist damage

As we all know, China's textile industry has been hit hard by the Sino US trade war. The conclusion of RCEP will effectively reduce the influence of unilateralism, which will greatly weaken the negative impact of US trade protectionism and help promote a virtuous circle of international trade.

Good rules of origin, dredging of textile raw materials

This year, the RCEP negotiating committee will focus on the discussion and planning of the rules of origin in terms of public clauses. Unlike CPTPP, there are strict rules of origin requirements for products that enjoy zero tariffs on member countries. For example, the textile and apparel industry adopts the rule of Yarn Forward, that is, the purchase of yarn must start from the member countries, so as to enjoy zero tariff preferences.

One of the key points of RCEP negotiations is to promote. To achieve 15 countries sharing a common certificate of origin, Asia will be integrated into the same comprehensive origin. There is no doubt that this will bring great convenience to the textile and garment enterprises of these 15 countries in terms of suppliers, logistics and customs clearance.

China will dominate the global textile supply chain

As China's textile and apparel industry has been constantly upgrading in terms of R & D, design and production of raw and auxiliary materials, some low-end manufacturing links have been transferred to Southeast Asia. While China's trade in textile and apparel products in Southeast Asia has declined, exports of raw and auxiliary materials will increase significantly. 。

Although the textile industry of Southeast Asian countries represented by Vietnam is on the rise, Chinese textile enterprises are not completely in the position of being replaced.

RCEP, which is jointly promoted by China and Southeast Asia, is also aimed at achieving the goal of win-win cooperation. Through regional economic cooperation, China and Southeast Asian countries will achieve common development.

In the future, China textile will become the leader in the global textile supply chain.

Source: Xinhua news agency, Foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Centre