Today, Thursday, the German Bundestag will ratify CETA, a free trade agreement with Canada. In order not to remain the last comparable deal, a new realism must be established in the EU: To free our economy from China, trade with new partners in Asia is required.
Germany’s ratification of the CETA agreement is overdue. The agreement not only creates freer trade, but also sets new standards in investment protection. State regulations can no longer be easily circumvented by company lawsuits.
The success of CETA is also important because we may lose our ability to act in the case of a free trade agreement in the EU. If we don’t manage to reach an agreement with a country as close to us as Canada, then we can forget about European trade policies.
We need more trade outside of China
Action skills are also urgently needed because we need to become more independent from China. For that we need other large and dynamically developing countries in Asia, such as India, India, Malaysia and Thailand. For this to work, politics must not only follow the agenda of civil society and see free trade agreements as instruments for exporting our values in terms of human rights and sustainability. With a moral index finger, there would be no indispensable deal, if only because potential partners go against high EU standards.
Realpolitical announced. The European Union must realize that we are no longer strong enough to act as a senior teacher when dealing with large developing countries. The EU and Germany need this agreement to enable diversification from China and to remain viable in the Indo-Pacific, which is becoming increasingly important geo-economically.
Re-aligning the free trade strategy
Required to prioritize our goals, the following must apply: geostrategy before morality. Agreements must be made possible and then executed, to our values and standards as much as possible, and in cooperation with the partners. We should also encourage European companies to settle in these countries, so they don’t have to worry about losing their jobs due to intensifying European competition. Only then can Europe’s trade policy with Asia be successful.
