Europe seeks to set global trade rules after Trump steps back

If Donald Trump’s ditching of a U.S.-led trade alliance with Pacific Rim nations wasn’t a gift to the European Union, then it must be the next best thing.

The president’s decision on his first day in office effectively pulled the United States out of the race to frame global trade rules. With Washington preoccupied by an attempt to renegotiate its existing NAFTA treaty with Canada and Mexico, the EU has an opportunity to become the top setter of common business standards in a series of new deals.

Still the world’s biggest trading bloc, the EU is recovering its self-confidence after a long economic crisis and Britain’s vote to leave the union. Now it has much of Asia and Latin America in its sights for trade treaties, while a far-reaching pact with Canada will already enter force in September.

Japan turned to the Brussels this month to seal a deal on creating the world’s biggest open economic area, after being dumped by Trump’s scrapping of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade accord in January. Read more….