China will speed up trade talks with EU, Japan and South Korea, says the Chinese president

As he delivered a major speech on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping revealed his plans for playing a bigger role in global trade, without talking about the ongoing tensions with the economic giant U.S.“We will work for the early signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and speed up negotiations of the China-EU investment treaty, and the China-Japan-ROK free trade agreement,” Xi stated in Mandarin, as per an official translation.The leader of the Asian economic titan was speaking via video at the opening ceremony of the third China International Import Expo, approximately 12 hours following the closure of the U.S. presidential election polls. Xi decided not to mention the U.S., with whom China has been having trade tensions for a long time—more than two years.RCEP is on its way to become the world’s largest trade agreement, if 15 Asia-Pacific countries sign the deal later this year, as expected, CNBC reported.(Reference: CNBC)