New trade agreement encompasses quarter of world’s population

A MARKET worth US$2 trillion has been created following the conclusion of a trade agreement between 10 South East Asian countries and China, putting together a trade zone that has 1.8bn people - about a quarter of the world’s population. But according to BBC News, some analysts are warning that the agreement is more hopeful than substantial. While countries do commit to lower tariffs on goods by 2007, sensitive goods such as sugar, iron, steel and cars are excluded from the agreement. Services are not dealt with, as are non-tariff barriers which are not mentioned.