Macron’s Asean trip showcases EU’s Asia pivot

US PRESIDENTS since at least Bill Clinton have sought to re-orientate US foreign policy towards Asia. And more recently, Europe has sought to emulate this “pivot” to the world’s fastest-growing economic region, as showcased this week by French President Emmanuel Macron’s big trip to three Asean nations.

Macron’s visit to Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, which follows previous trips to the region by other European leaders including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in April, comes as the 27-member EU is under the threat of 50 per cent tariffs from the US President Donald Trump – now in abeyance following a weekend call between the American leader and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen. In any case, Europe is looking to bolster commercial ties in Asia, including diversifying supply chains.

The Asia and wider Pacific region is home to around three-fifths of the world’s population. It accounts for some 60 per cent of global gross domestic product, about two-thirds of global growth, around 40 per cent of the European Union’s total imports and, together with the EU-27, drives some 70 per cent of global trade too.