The heads of government from more than 50 countries from Europe and Asia met in Brussels in order to for more trading. US President, Trump is a cautionary tale. Christoph Hasselbach reports.
No one says it, many avoid even aware of the name of Donald Trump, but the summit between the EU and 21 Asian countries is much of a counter-weight to what the American President. The Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian is called in Short as “areas in which we need to work together”, the “fight against climate change”, the use of “fair and equitable free trade that is being made by some in the world question”, and, more generally, “multi-multilateralism . today is not so self-evident as the once upon a time”. All references to Trump.
Similarly, the German Chancellor: “The summit shows that countries are going to all of a rule-based world trade want to commit to multilateralism. And this is an important Signal.” It is “to make it clear that when one benefits, the other can benefit”. This was also a broadside against trump’s confrontational approach that creates a trade war with China.
The EU wants cooperation instead of confrontation, free trade instead of protectionism, but it’s not so easy
While Trump self-existing trade contracts in question or terminated, the EU is here, too, in the opposite way: it has concluded with South Korea and Japan free trade agreement, with this summit, Singapore. Actually, the agreement with Singapore is since years ready for signature. But protests against other treaties such as the CETA agreement with Canada had held up the conclusion. After the vote in the European Parliament (a is regarded as the safe) shall enter the contract in the coming year.
Problems with China
Singapore is the first country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, the EU includes such a free trade agreement. Brussels negotiated but already with Vietnam, Indonesia and three other ASEAN countries, in order to gain mutual trade facilitation.
The Meeting between the Asian countries, including heavyweights China and Japan, the world’s number two and three in terms of gross domestic product, and the EU member States, plus Switzerland and Norway, are held twice a year.
In all of the alleged similarities with the Asians Merkel wanted to raise in its bilateral discussions, the issue of values and human rights.
China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands
But when trading, there are problems with some Asian countries, partly in connection with political differences. The EU has announced because of the human rights situation in Cambodia, that the country will lose its facilitated access to the European single market; also due to concerns about the human rights of Myanmar could bloom such sanctions. In the case of Myanmar, the persecution of the Muslim Rohingya minority. But this should not come at the summit. Several organizations find it “outrageous that the European and Asian heads of government have the most urgent refugee crisis in the world – the Plight of the Rohingya is not on the agenda of the left”, as it is said in a statement.
The problems with giants China, for example, are what Brussels called a Chinese Overcapacity, especially in steel. China produces and consumes half of the world’s steel, has cut on the European Insistence of his production. The EU is not enough. You want China to reduce its state aid for the steel-making facilities, and a total stop to help his company with support from the state to a dominant Position on the world markets. China has managed, however, that originally a tougher requirement in the final communiqué was watered down. Interestingly, the Europeans with their interests in China find themselves back into a boat with Donald Trump.
Also, the Brexit is an issue
This is perhaps the reason why the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel pointed to the question of journalists, whether an Anti-Trump summit, back: “no, we do not make anti. We need to work together. To always have the feeling that it was going to be anti against anyone as anti-Russia, anti-China and anti-Trump, which I think is bad. We should see what we have in common, rather than only where there are problems.”
The British Prime Minister of May (here in conversation with EU Council President Tusk) have to listen to a warning from Toyoda
Also, the Brexit is at this Meeting. Akio Toyoda, the boss of the Japanese carmaker Toyota, which has plants in the UK and other European countries, has warned of the consequences of the upcoming British EU exit. It is necessary to avoid a disorderly Brexit without a contract “at any price,” writes Toyoda, and adds that companies in Europe on both sides of the English channel needed because of the mutual dependency in the production of “an unrestricted trading environment between the United Kingdom and the European Union”.