<p class="title">The signing of the world's largest trade pact will likely be kicked back to 2020, according to a draft statement by Southeast Asian leaders, delaying a deal craved by China to offset a painful tariff war with the US.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) spans from India to New Zealand and includes 30 percent of global GDP and half of the world's people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Objections by India have dashed hopes of finalising the pact at this weekend's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bangkok, where members of the 10-nation bloc have been joined by the premiers of India and China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Most market access negotiations have been completed and the few outstanding bilateral issues will be resolved by Feb 2020," said a draft agreement obtained by AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Negotiations have sputtered for several years, but the statement said the text of all 20 chapters was now complete "pending the resolution of one" member, believed to be India.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But it said all members were "committed to sign the RCEP" next year in Vietnam, which will take over the ASEAN chair.</p>.<p class="bodytext">New Delhi is worried its small businesses will be hard hit by any flood of cheap Chinese goods creating "unsustainable trade deficits" -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview published by the Bangkok Post.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beijing sees RCEP as a central pillar of its trade strategy for its Asian neighbourhood, and it is backed by the leaders of ASEAN and who represent a 650 million-strong market.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Concluding the deal has been made more pressing by the brutal tit-for-tat trade war with the US, which has chipped back at growth in China, the world's second-largest economy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">RCEP -- which includes the 10-nation ASEAN bloc along with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand -- accounts for 40 percent of global commerce.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The tit-for-tat tariffs lobbed by the US and China on billions of dollars worth of goods could drag growth to the lowest rate in over a decade, according to the IMF.</p>.<p class="bodytext">US President Donald Trump said he hopes to sign a deal with China's Xi Jinping in order to roll back some of the tariffs, telling reporters over the weekend an agreement could be signed in the US state of Iowa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chinese premier Li Keqiang said earlier in the day his country remained "firmly committed to supporting ASEAN centrality" as part of its regional ties.</p>
<p class="title">The signing of the world's largest trade pact will likely be kicked back to 2020, according to a draft statement by Southeast Asian leaders, delaying a deal craved by China to offset a painful tariff war with the US.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) spans from India to New Zealand and includes 30 percent of global GDP and half of the world's people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Objections by India have dashed hopes of finalising the pact at this weekend's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bangkok, where members of the 10-nation bloc have been joined by the premiers of India and China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Most market access negotiations have been completed and the few outstanding bilateral issues will be resolved by Feb 2020," said a draft agreement obtained by AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Negotiations have sputtered for several years, but the statement said the text of all 20 chapters was now complete "pending the resolution of one" member, believed to be India.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But it said all members were "committed to sign the RCEP" next year in Vietnam, which will take over the ASEAN chair.</p>.<p class="bodytext">New Delhi is worried its small businesses will be hard hit by any flood of cheap Chinese goods creating "unsustainable trade deficits" -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview published by the Bangkok Post.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beijing sees RCEP as a central pillar of its trade strategy for its Asian neighbourhood, and it is backed by the leaders of ASEAN and who represent a 650 million-strong market.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Concluding the deal has been made more pressing by the brutal tit-for-tat trade war with the US, which has chipped back at growth in China, the world's second-largest economy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">RCEP -- which includes the 10-nation ASEAN bloc along with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand -- accounts for 40 percent of global commerce.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The tit-for-tat tariffs lobbed by the US and China on billions of dollars worth of goods could drag growth to the lowest rate in over a decade, according to the IMF.</p>.<p class="bodytext">US President Donald Trump said he hopes to sign a deal with China's Xi Jinping in order to roll back some of the tariffs, telling reporters over the weekend an agreement could be signed in the US state of Iowa.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chinese premier Li Keqiang said earlier in the day his country remained "firmly committed to supporting ASEAN centrality" as part of its regional ties.</p>