China-Japan-South_Korea_trilateral_meeting

The China–Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement is a proposed

free trade agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

between

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. The China-Japan-South Korea Free Trad
Agreement
was proposed in 2002. Negotiations on the agreement were set in motion in 2012. At the time, the three nations made up to 19.6% of th
world's economy
Two-way trade between South Korea and China was totaled at $230 billion in 201

These talks mostly occurred in parallel with negotiations on the

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP ) is a free trade agreement among the Asia-Pacific countries of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, S ...

(RCEP) a free trade agreement that includes China, Japan, and South Korea along with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and the ten member states of

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

. RCEP negotiations began in earnest in 2013 and the agreement went into effect in 2021. The three nations continued to negotiate an additional, more comprehensive agreement. A trilateral investment has been signed by all 3 nation

The first official talks on the matter were held in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

from 26 to 28 March 2013. Further talks were held in China and Japan throughout 2013 and continued to be held with relative consistency until 2019. Talks stalled after the second 2019 summit, but resumed in 2024 with the first China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit in over 4 years. Talks after 2019 have been mired by weak public interest in Japan and South Korea and increased geopolitical tension between China and the other two potential members. Additionally the implementation of RCEP has made the creation of a new trade agreement less pressing. In March 2025, industry, trade and commerce officials from the three nations met to discuss enhanced trade in the face of US President Donald Trump's tariff threats. The South Korean Trade Minister

Ahn Duk-geun Ahn Duk-geun (; born 21 April 1968) is a South Korean economist serving as the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy. He was a professor at the Korea Development Institute's Graduate School of Public Policy and Management. Career He earned a b ...

said at the summit " tis necessary to strengthen the implementation of RCEP, in which all three countries have participated, and to create a framework for expanding trade cooperation among the three countries through Korea-China-Japan FTA negotiations."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement Proposed free trade agreements Free trade agreements of South Korea Free trade agreements of China Free trade agreements of Japan China–Japan–South Korea relations

See also

References