The EU's trade strategy in the Asia Pacific

In terms of market size and purchasing power, the Asia-Pacific region is a key region for future global growth. For this reason, and in view of the growing tensions with China, it should be of central political and economic interest for the EU to pursue a strong and assertive trade policy in this important region and to implement it.

To this end, bilateral free trade agreements are currently the best option for the EU. The EU has already concluded some of these agreements, including with Japan and South Korea.

The EU should continuously work on concluding more free trade agreements in the region and ensuring their subsequent enforcement. A special focus should be on strengthening region-to-region ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).