(Bloomberg) -- The European Union won Asian political support in campaigns aimed at countering U.S. President Donald Trump’s challenges to global trade rules, the fight against climate change and the international nuclear accord with Iran.
In a final statement at an Asia-Europe summit in Brussels on Friday, the EU said the government leaders agreed on “the vital need of maintaining an open world economy and upholding the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core.”
European and Asian leaders also recognized “the serious challenge posed by climate change, its tremendous impact felt worldwide and the need for urgent and effective action,” according to the statement. Furthermore, the text cites “collective support” at the summit for the United Nations-backed agreement to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.
“The summit shows that countries gathering from Europe and Asia want rules-based world trade and a commitment to multilateralism,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday in the Belgian capital. “That’s an important signal because almost two-thirds of global gross domestic product is gathered here.”
America First
The meeting highlights the global political maneuvering to address the consequences of Trump’s “America-First” agenda, which has led the U.S. to question the relevance of the WTO, abandon a landmark 2015 UN agreement to fight global warming and pull out of a hard-fought international accord the same year to curb Iran’s nuclear activities.
“When it comes to climate change, it’s important to win these countries as partners,” said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria, which currently holds the EU’s rotating six-month presidency. “It’s important that we act as one.”
The Oct. 18-19 summit brought together the heads of state or government of more than 50 European and Asian countries including the 28 EU members, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.
(Updates with comments from final statement.)
