On January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement RCEP officially entered into force! On this day, after the RCEP came into effect, 10 countries, including China (6 ASEAN members such as Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and 4 non-ASEAN members such as China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia), officially began to fulfill their obligations, and at the same time symbolized the opening of the world's largest free trade area, which is of great significance to promote the high-quality development of China's economy.
So, having said all this, what benefits can the implementation of this agreement bring to our consumers? Will tariffs on imported goods fall? How much can it be reduced? Don't worry, follow in the footsteps of the cylinder brother to see what impact the RCEP will bring after it takes effect.
"New Year's Gift Package" for Consumers and Businesses
When the RCEP comes into effect, 90% of the goods of the approved member countries will achieve zero tariffs, and the proportion of zero tariffs between China, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand will exceed 65%, of which the zero tariff ratios of China and Japan will reach 25% and 57% respectively. It can be known that among the members of the RCPE, Japan is China's largest source of auto parts imports, according to statistics, in 2020 the import quota will exceed 9 billion US dollars, when the RCEP takes effect, the level of trade will be significantly improved, in addition to effectively reducing tariffs, while the RCEP also in the rules of origin, customs procedures, inspection and quarantine, intellectual property rights and other aspects of the formation of unified rules, the degree of convenience has also been further improved.
According to customs statistics, in 2021, the total value of China's imports and exports to other RCEP members will be 10.96 trillion yuan, accounting for 31% of China's total foreign trade. When the agreement comes into force, about 90% of the exported textiles, bags, plastic products, etc., as well as machinery, plastic products, motors and electrical equipment, etc., can enjoy a significant reduction in tariffs, and the entry into force of RCEP can benefit both consumers and enterprises from the agreement.
In general, for domestic consumers, the entry into force of RCEP means that more good and cheap goods can be purchased from the member countries of the agreement, and it will also promote the acceleration of cross-border business development, so the "sea amoy" business may rise; for enterprises, RCEP is conducive to them going abroad, and the reputation of "Made in China" will become more and more popular.
Which areas will have the greatest impact after RCEP goes into effect?
After the RCEP agreement, the traditional high-tax industries in the food, agriculture, consumer goods and automobile fields will be greatly affected, and consumers can buy cheaper Japanese cars, Australian skin care products, New Zealand honey, Malaysian fruits in the future, but also affordable processed aquatic products, tobacco, bags, rubber tires, medicine, clothing, etc. It can be said that there is no need to find someone to buy or use outbound travel to achieve "buying, buying and buying".
Speaking of the automotive field, I believe that there will be many consumers who are also concerned about this problem, will it be cheaper to buy imported cars in the future? According to the data, in 2020, 5 RCEP member countries (Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia) exported a total of 335,000 vehicles to China, down 3.90% year-on-year, accounting for 35.91% of China's total automobile imports. At present, although China's most-favored-nation tax rate (MFN) on all vehicle products has been reduced to a maximum of 15% since July 1, 2018, a small number of vehicle products still need to be combined with other FTAs (free trade agreements) to determine the import tax rate, RCEP has almost no impact on automobile imports, but it is beneficial to China's automobile exports.
Overall, although the overall import car tax rate has not been greatly adjusted, the tax rate in the field of auto parts of the car is expected to be reduced. According to Xiao Kaijia, senior manager of logistics and control of SAIC Volkswagen Plan, after the implementation of the RCEP agreement, SAIC Volkswagen plans to import and declare a batch of gearbox controllers from Japan after New Year's Day in 2022, which can apply to enjoy the RCEP agreement tax rate, so it enjoys the most-favored nation tax rate of 7%, a reduction of 0.4 percentage points, so enterprises pay 13,000 yuan less tariffs, it can be seen that with the formal implementation of the agreement, the level of trade and investment liberalization will be significantly improved, which is conducive to the win-win situation of the automotive industry chain.
With the entry into force of RCEP, the market is both an opportunity and a challenge
Standing on the outlet of RCEP, the impact on all walks of life is also different, and reducing import tariffs will not only promote the growth of trade and investment, but also intensify competition between industries and enterprises. For example, if a car is exported to a certain country, it uses Chinese tires, Japanese engines, South Korean seats, under the RCEP agreement, multiple countries are a big family, which shows that there are still a lot of gaps in the market to enter.
It is understood that at present, in addition to the domestic automotive industry, there have been many enterprises have laid out RCEP member states, with the full effect of the RCEP agreement, China's own brands out of the overseas market will usher in more opportunities and challenges, I believe that in the case of global economic tension, Made in China will lead the global development, and bring more hope!
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In fact, it can be seen that the RCEP agreement itself hopes that many countries can join a "big family". Through joint cooperation, we can achieve a win-win situation for everyone and make the cake bigger, rather than engaging in the interests of small circles and seeking the interests of individual countries to replace the interests of larger groups. Therefore, efforts to promote the implementation of the RCEP agreement can not only promote the development pattern, but also help the international port business environment, and the future market opportunities must be greater.