Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott
“In Manila, on Tuesday, September 22, the European Union and the Philippines agreed on the substance of a free trade agreement, one that revealed the shape of Europe’s strategy in Southeast Asia. The deal, giving Philippine exporters permanent preferential access to the EU market of roughly 450 million consumers, follows agreements already in force with Singapore and Vietnam, an Indonesian pact awaiting approval, and Thai talks entering what Bangkok hopes to be their final round. Together, these agreements tie the EU, already the third-largest trading partner for the ASEAN bloc, and its largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI), into several of the largest economies in the region—but not the bloc as a whole. The EU is building its Southeast Asian relationship nation by nation, undermining the prospects of a bloc-to-bloc agreement that both sides still profess to want.” (09/25/26)