EU, Asian leaders want free trade, push back at Trump
BRUSLS (AP) — Europe and Asia presented a united front Friday in support of free trade based on international rules and cooperation, starkly underscoring their differences with US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy.
That support for free trade “is the most important signal from this summit, especially valid in the current geopolitical context,” EU Council President Donald Tusk said at the end of a two-day Europe-Asia summit in Brussels.
The meeting comes at a time when Trump is increasingly distancing the United States from global organizations like the United Nations. Trump told the UN general assembly last month: “We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.”
Those at the summit — 30 European leaders, their counterparts from 21 Asian nations as well as top officials from the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — have the economic clout to stand up to that kind of rhetoric from Trump. The officials came from countries that represent some two-thirds of the world’s economic output, 55 percent of global trade and 60 percent of the world’s population.
A written statement said the leaders “highlighted the vital need of maintaining an open world economy and upholding the rulesbased multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core.”
Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum from the EU on June 1. He said the move was to protect US national security interests, but the Europeans claim it is simply protectionism and breaks global trade rules.
The EU hit back with tariffs on about 2.8 billion euros worth ($3.4 billion) of US steel, agricultural and other products.
The stakes are even higher in Trump’s trade war with China. Trump has imposed tariffs on about $250 billion worth of Chinese products amid US accusations that China engages in cyber-theft and coerces foreign companies into handing over technology in return for access to the Chinese market, as well as by Trump’s anger over China’s trade surplus with the US.