The list of countries wishing to join the world’s largest free-trade bloc is getting longer. And with the United States ramping up tariffs, that’s hardly a surprise.
Four more nations – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Chile – are seeking to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership next month, officials in Southeast Asia said on Thursday.
RCEP currently has 15 member nations – China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, plus all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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RCEP officials have been meeting this week on the sidelines of a gathering of ASEAN trade and economic ministers in Malaysia, who have said they have few objections to accepting new applicants and will work toward bringing the four countries into the bloc.
“We are, of course, in support of any countries that are willing to join the RCEP,” Indonesia’s Vice Minister of Trade Dyah Roro Esti Widya Putri told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia’s trade minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said any decision on new RCEP members will be discussed when the bloc’s leaders meet for the first time in five years in October.
Tengku Zafrul has previously said the RCEP bloc would seek to upgrade a trade deal it signed in 2020 during the October summit.
“We want to focus on issues that will help RCEP members,” Tengku Zafrul told Reuters in an interview ahead of an ASEAN economic ministers meeting this week.
China has called on countries in the region to embrace multilateral frameworks such as the RCEP to counter the impact of the US tariffs.
Tengku Zafrul said given ASEAN and RCEP members all supported multilateralism, he wasn’t worried about the meeting being “hijacked” by China.
“To be fair to Malaysia and ASEAN member states, and even other RCEP members, they have said the same thing. I mean, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and all have stated their views on multilateralism,” he said.
“So whether China will hijack the agenda, I don’t think so, because there’s nothing new in our belief about that principle.”
Trump tariffs
US President Donald Trump’s tariff drive has seen levies of 10% to 40% placed on goods from Asian countries. Most major ASEAN economies have been hit with a rate of 19%.
The US tariffs were a point of discussion during the ASEAN ministers gathering this week, which was attended by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Some analysts have described the RCEP as a potential buffer against tariffs imposed by the United States, though its provisions are considered weaker than some other regional trade deals due to competing interests among its members.
Malaysia, the current chair of ASEAN, is due to host a leaders’ summit of the grouping and its regional partners in the same month as the planned RCEP meeting.
“The aim (of the RCEP meeting) is to take stock, to accelerate implementation and to demonstrate that Asia can still lead the cause of openness even as others turn inward,” Anwar was quoted as saying by Malaysian daily The Star.
The RCEP agreement, which came into force in 2022, is aimed at lowering tariffs, boosting investment and allowing freer movement of goods within the region.
- Jim Pollard with Reuters
Note: Further text was added to this report on Sept 25, 2025.
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