S5 Ep12: Backstage: The new balance of Asia-EU-US trade relations

Amid the Asia-Europe Economic Forum on the fringes of the
12th ASEM Summit, Bruegel senior fellow hosts a conversation on
developing global trade relations, with guests Moonsung Kang,
professor as Korea University, and Michael G. Plummer, director
at SAIS Europe – Johns Hopkins University, for an episode of the
Bruegel Backstage series on ‘The Sound of Economics’.


With Bruegel hosting the two-day Asia-Europe Economic Forum in
the same week as the Asia-Europe Meeting takes place in Brussels,
André Sapir takes the opportunity to talk about the quickening
changes to the global trade landscape in conversation with
Moonsung Kang, professor as Korea University, and Michael G.
Plummer, director at SAIS Europe – Johns Hopkins
University. 


Led by President Donald Trump, the US has begun to challenge the
multilateral trade system. Meanwhile, Europe has been busy
securing free trade agreements – most recently with Japan,
previously with Canada and others.


With the US appearing to withdraw, and abdicate its leading role
in the global trading system, Asia’s moves to improve relations
with Europe make sense; the EU seems to have better appreciated
the shift of the gravitational centre of world trade towards
Asia.


The question remains how closely Asia and the EU will agree to
cooperate in the years to come, and whether the US political
narrative will develop in a way that leads them back towards free
trade, or even further down the road of bilateral
agreements. 


If you are interested in reading more on this topic, we can
recommend the research paper on the EU-Japan agreement that
Bruegel has submitted to the European Parliament, by André Sapir,
Sonali Chowdhry and Alessio Terzi.


Consider also the Bruegel Backstage podcast episode on the
developing EU-China relationship in the face of rising global
trade tensions.