China and a bloc of 11 Southeast Asian countries signed an upgrade to their free-trade agreement on Tuesday, expanding its terms to cover product quality, environmental protection and help for small businesses, in a sought-after strengthening of multilateral economic ties for Beijing amid its ongoing trade war with the US.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a group with a combined population of 680 million and a total gross domestic product of US$3.8 trillion in 2023, signed the…