Mandelson call for bilateral EU-Asian trade agreements
Financial Times (London) | September 18 2006
Mandelson call for bilateral EU-Asian trade agreements
By Tobias Buckin
Brussels
Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, will today call for the Union to negotiate new bilateral trade deals with countries in Asia, a further sign that hopes of a successful global trade agreement are dimming.
In a speech in Berlin, Mr Mandelson will say: "We should go beyond the EU’s existing bilateral free trade agreements, by setting out the case for new free trade agreements designed to deliver more open markets and fairer trading conditions in new areas of growth, particularly in Asia."
Commission officials said new trade agreements with India, South Korea and the Asean countries would be especially promising for European businesses. In order to open such negotiations, Mr Mandelson will need the backing of the EU’s national governments.
The EU has long preferred to pursue its trade goals through the World Trade Organisation and the comprehensive, worldwide agreements that are negotiated under the Geneva body’s auspices.
That stance reflected Brussels’ belief that a web of bilateral deals is complex to agree and maintain, and may discriminate against trading partners that are not party to a bilateral agreement.
However, the current Doha round of WTO talks has been stalled despite five years of negotiation, and hopes that the deeply divided trading community can revive the round are fading fast.
Mr Mandelson will say that the WTO must remain central to the EU’s efforts. "The multilateral system is the most effective and just way of expanding and managing trade . . . There will be no European retreat from multilateralism," the commissioner will add.
However, the call for new bilateral deals with Asian countries marks a not-so-subtle shift in emphasis that is likely to raise concerns at the WTO and other supporters of the multilateral approach.
Mr Mandelson will promise to set out his plans in more detail early next month, when he is due to reveal a new "external competitiveness strategy".
