China-Asean Trade Deal Takes Hold, Spares Popcorn, Toilet Paper

By Daniel Ten Kate

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- A free-trade agreement between China and Southeast Asia comes into force tomorrow, consolidating a sixfold surge in economic activity over the past decade between countries representing a quarter of the world’s population.

The agreement expands a limited 2005 trade area between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, scrapping tariffs on about 90 percent of goods. By 2015, duties must be cut to no more than 50 percent on “highly sensitive” items, including ambulances in Brunei, popcorn in Indonesia, snowboard boots in Thailand and toilet paper in China.

China’s economic clout in Southeast Asian countries has risen over the past decade as policy makers slashed tariffs on electronics, automobile parts and computer chips. Japan, India, Europe and the U.S. have followed China in courting Asean, home to investments from Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of computer chips, and Toyota Motor Corp., the biggest carmaker.