Germany urges EU to speed-up free trade deals with Asian countries after Trump, Brexit

It should also “give a timely push against protectionism and for free trading relationships and international cooperation”, the paper continued, referring indirectly to Trump’s scepticism on trade agreements.

In his first week in office, he signed an order pulling the United States out of the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership with Asian states.

Listing 12 countries, mainly in Asia, that are at varying stages of talks with Brussels, where the EU executive runs trade policy, the German paper said: “The
Commission should seize the initiative now to make decisive progress in these negotiations.”

It noted potential deals with: Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Australia and New Zealand. It also noted that talks dating back some 20 years with the six Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council had lately shown little progress.