Rebut for Trump at summit
50 Asem leaders support multilaterism
REPRESENTATIVES of more than 50 European and Asian countries met in Brussels yesterday to show their support for rules-based trade and multilateralism, in a rebuttal to challenges by US president Donald Trump.
The 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) brings together leaders and senior officials from 51 European and Asian states, including all 28 EU leaders and the prime ministers of Russia, China and Japan.
The group collectively represents 55% of global trade, 60% of the world population and 65% of global gross domestic product.
The leaders are due to stress “the vital need of maintaining an open world economy and upholding the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core”, according to a draft summit statement.
“I think we can set a signal that it is about creating win-win situations in the world,” said German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Asem’s role has become more relevant due to “recent international developments”, the summit statement notes, without going into detail.
Washington has upset many of its trading partners by raising tariffs on goods such as steel and aluminium, as well as a swathe of Chinese imports, justifying its approach by citing national security concerns.
Trump has also threatened to withdraw the US from the WTO, the global trade watchdog, complaining that Washington does not get treated fairly.
European and Asian nations have been cementing their ties, for example by signing an EU-Japan free trade deal in July that was seen as a rebuke of Trump-style protectionism. Eleven trans-Pacific states have also pressed ahead with a trade deal after the US pulled out.
The Asem summit is further due to focus on joint efforts to tackle climate change and other international issues challenged by Trump’s agenda, such as attempts to uphold the Iran nuclear deal, struck in 2015 to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. The US has pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
“If Europe and Asia put their weight together, they can make a crucial difference,” a senior EU official said before the summit on condition of anonymity.
EU leaders are also expected to address human rights issues in bilateral conversations, Merkel noted.
Leading Rohingya activist groups issued a joint statement yesterday calling on the international community to ramp up its response to the refugee crisis triggered by a brutal military crackdown against them in Myanmar.
The draft summit statement stresses the “importance of finding a comprehensive and durable solution” to the conflict.
Meanwhile, the EU is keen to highlight investment in infrastructure connecting Europe and Asia, days after the bloc adopted guidelines in this area aimed at high social and environmental standards, transparency and fiscal sustainability.
The EU and Singapore were set to ink agreements on free trade and investment yesterday, capping eight years of talks.
The EU-Singapore trade deal marks the first EU deal with a member of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).
Singapore is the bloc’s largest Asean trading partner, and the EU’s 14th largest trading partner in terms of goods.
In 2017, trade in goods between Singapore and the EU totalled €53.3 billion. Trade in services came to €44.4bn in 2016, the last year of full data.
The investment relationship is also well established. Singapore is a top location for European investment in Asia, and more than 10 000 European firms have a Singapore presence. |