Abstract
Little progress was made on long-standing issues such as India’s unambitious tariff offers, India’s demand for freer movement of temporary service workers, and disagreements about investment and intellectual property rules. [...]a “poison pill” clause introduced by the United States in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) precludes members of this and other potential U.S. agreements from also signing accords with ‘non-market economies’ (read China), adding urgency to completing RCEP. RCEP might even rekindle interest in broader regional integration, as an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) pathway to a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.