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The RCEP pact reflects a pre-World War I vision of self-contained blocs dominated by rival empires.
Free trade? Tell it to the lobsters.
Photographer: Ron D'Raine/Bloomberg
If you wanted a demonstration of how the world’s largest free trade area is likely to fall short of expectations, you could do worse than look at the customs sheds at Shanghai’s Pudong airport.
As final preparations for signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership pact, or RCEP, were being made earlier this month, several metric tons of Australian lobster were being delayed at the Chinese border for several days — far longer than the six-hour time frame for perishable goods under RCEP rules. That was owing to an unofficial order from Beijing to hold up seven categories of products from the country. Diplomatic relations between the two have been fraying and China’s foreign ministry this month told Australians to “reflect upon their deeds” if they wanted a better economic relationship.