STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Sweden said on Tuesday it would propose that the European Union join a Pacific rim-based trading group with the aim of forming the world’s biggest free trade area to help counter the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a free trade accord sealed in 2018 between 11 countries – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Britain joined last year and China also hopes to join.
“If the EU and the CPTPP as trade groups link together it would create the biggest free-trade area in the whole world,” Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Trade, Benjamin Dousa, told Reuters by phone from Japan.
“At a time when the U.S. is closing itself off more and more and becoming inward-looking there are good opportunities for Europe to open itself up… to investment and trade,” he said.
Trump’s tariff blitz has upended decades of trade practice, shaken faith in traditional alliances and raised fears of a global recession.
Dousa, who is currently on a trade trip to several Asian countries, said Sweden would make its proposal on joining the CPTPP at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Thursday in Brussels.
Export-dependent Sweden is one of the strongest supporters of free trade inside the 27-nation EU, though Dousa said he expected some member states to be less keen on a CPTPP deal.
“We are ready to take up the fight with countries like France,” he said. France has traditionally been more protectionist-minded, especially regarding agricultural produce.
While negotiations could take some time, Dousa said it might be possible to conduct negotiations sector-by-sector and industry-by-industry, meaning concrete agreements could be in place relatively quickly.
“This is existential for Sweden. If we want to be able to afford our healthcare, schools and social services here in Sweden… our exporters must have more markets to sell to,” said Dousa.
The EU already has or is negotiating bilateral agreements with almost all CPTPP members.
(Reporting by Simon JohnsonEditing by Gareth Jones)
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