The 11th-hour pullout comes after days of late-running negotiations at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, which closed Monday. The meeting was dominated by trade issues -- with RCEP front and centre -- backlit by the crippling US-China tariff war. That decision raised diplomatic eyebrows and appeared to prompt several Southeast Asian leaders to skip a meeting with US officials on Monday. Thailand handed over the ASEAN chair to Vietnam, where the RCEP deal could finally be signed, after years of gruelling negotiations. But "India will never get a better deal from the members than what they have already managed," said Elms, director of the Asian Trade Centre.

Source: New Strait Times November 04, 2019 16:21 UTC