Seven ASEAN states complete steps towards ACFTA 3.0 launch
China’s completion of its domestic process would allow the upgraded pact to take effect within 60 days, opening access to modernised trade rules.
Seven ASEAN member states, including Thailand, have completed their domestic procedures for the upgraded ASEAN-China Free Trade Area agreement, bringing ACFTA 3.0 closer to taking effect in 2026.
China’s completion of its own process would allow the protocol to enter into force within 60 days, according to Thailand’s Department of Trade Negotiations.
ASEAN and China aim to have the upgraded agreement in effect this year, allowing their leaders to mark the development at the ASEAN-China Summit scheduled for November 2026.
Aumaporn Futrakul, deputy director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations, represented Director-General Chotima Iemsawasdikul as the ASEAN co-chair of the 17th ASEAN-China Free Trade Area Joint Committee meeting.
She chaired the meeting jointly with Lin Feng, director-general of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs at China’s Ministry of Commerce. The talks were held by video conference on July 23 and 24.
China’s procedures could start 60-day timetable
The meeting was the joint committee’s first in three years, following its previous session in 2023.
During the interval, ASEAN and China had concentrated on completing negotiations to upgrade the free trade agreement to ACFTA 3.0.
The updated agreement is intended to modernise the existing framework, facilitate trade and give businesses access to provisions covering newer areas of commercial activity.
Seven ASEAN countries have now completed their required domestic processes. Once China completes its procedures, the protocol can take effect within 60 days.
Customs and origin-data work progresses
The joint committee also reviewed implementation of major commitments under the existing ASEAN-China free trade agreement.
These included converting tariff-reduction schedules to the Harmonized System 2022, or HS 2022, customs classification.
ASEAN and China are also developing the Electronic Origin Data Exchange System, known as EODES, to exchange product-origin information electronically.
The system is intended to reduce the number of procedures and the processing time involved in certifying the origin of goods. Thailand is discussing the establishment of the system with China.
The meeting also considered how money from a China-supported fund could be allocated to ASEAN economic-cooperation activities.
The funding could help ASEAN members prepare to implement new ACFTA 3.0 provisions covering digital trade, green trade and supply-chain connectivity.
ASEAN-China trade reaches US$916bn
China remained ASEAN’s largest trading partner for a 16th consecutive year in 2025.
Two-way trade reached US$916.15 billion, an increase of 18.59% from the previous year.
Thailand was China’s third-largest trading partner among ASEAN members, behind Vietnam and Malaysia.
ASEAN-China trade totalled US$238.45 billion during the first three months of 2026. ASEAN exported goods worth US$77.48 billion to China and imported US$160.97 billion in Chinese products.
ASEAN’s main exports to China included electrical machinery and components, nuclear reactors and components, mineral fuels, iron and steel, and edible fruit and nuts.
Its main imports from China included electrical machinery and components, nuclear reactors and components, plastics and plastic products, iron and steel, and vehicles, equipment and parts.
