{"id":100605,"date":"2026-04-10T15:25:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=100605"},"modified":"2026-04-12T06:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:00:30","slug":"southeast-asia-looks-to-europe-while-eu-also-plans-to-implement-mercosur-trade-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/prophecy\/southeast-asia-looks-to-europe-while-eu-also-plans-to-implement-mercosur-trade-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Southeast Asia looks to Europe, while EU also plans to implement Mercosur trade deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nPort of Hamburg Eurogate and Burchardkai container terminals\u00a0<\/em>
\n(Photo by Carsten Steger<\/a><\/span> <\/span>via Wikipedia)<\/em><\/p>\n

COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

While the Iran war and related matters dominates much of the news, the European Union continues to work to increase trade with other lands, triggered in part by trade policies of the Trump Administration. Notice the following related to parts of Southeast Asia:<\/p>\n

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Trust in EU grows in Southeast Asia, but challenges remain<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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10 April 2026<\/p>\n

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Europe’s standing in Southeast Asia has improved over the past year, a regional survey released this week has found.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For the sixth consecutive year, the European Union emerged as the region’s most preferred “third party” to hedge against US-China rivalry, according to the latest State of Southeast Asia survey, an annual poll published by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Some 37.7% of respondents, up from 36.3% last year, said the EU is ASEAN’s preferred and trusted strategic partner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The survey also found that 19.2% of respondents saw the EU as the main champion of the global free trade agenda, ahead of the United States, though still behind ASEAN itself and China.<\/p>\n

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According to the survey, 55.9% of respondents said they trusted the EU to “do the right thing” to contribute to global peace, security, prosperity and governance, up from 51.9% last year. Over the same period, distrust fell from 27.8% to 22.3%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The EU is ASEAN’s third-largest trading partner, after the US and China, and the bloc’s second-largest source of foreign direct investment. …<\/p>\n

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The EU already has free trade agreements in force with Singapore and Vietnam and concluded negotiations last year on a major trade deal with Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Brussels is also seeking to finalize agreements with the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, viewing bilateral deals as building blocks toward an eventual region-to-region trade agreement with ASEAN. …<\/p>\n

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“Not only are the EU and ASEAN confronted with identical challenges, but they also share an interest in promoting international law and multilateralism,” said Alfred Gerstl, an expert on Indo-Pacific international relations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“As the two strongest regional organizations in the world, they have a strong incentive to collaborate more closely to defend the rules-based order,” he told DW. https:\/\/www.abs-cbn.com\/news\/world\/2026\/4\/10\/california-hospice-fraud-crackdown-expands-into-probe-on-patient-eligibility-1227<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Let me add that the EU is the biggest trade partner with Africa and several months ago, they held a summit meeting in Angola in order to try to further increase trade with Africa.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Europe is planning on increasing trade with South America:<\/p>\n

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EU-MERCOSUR Agreement to provisionally apply from 1 May 2026<\/h2>\n
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The European Commission has formally notified Mercosur countries of the European Union\u2019s decision to proceed with the provisional application of the EU-Mercosur interim Trade Agreement (iTA).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The notification was made through a note verbale addressed to Paraguay, the legal custodian of Mercosur treaties, completing the final procedural requirement in line with the Council Decision of 9 January 2026.<\/p>\n

As a result, the agreement is set to apply provisionally from 1 May 2026 between the European Union and those Mercosur countries that have completed their ratification procedures and notified the EU before the end of March. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have already completed this process, while Paraguay has recently ratified the agreement and is expected to notify shortly. 03\/27\/26 https:\/\/eurometal.net\/eu-mercosur-agreement-to-provisionally-apply-from-1-may-2026\/<\/a><\/p>\n

8 April 2026<\/p>\n

In March, after decades of negotiations, the free trade agreement between Mercosur nations and the European Union (EU) was ratified by Paraguay, the last founding member of the Latin American bloc to give the green light to the deal. Already in its final stage, the document will be provisionally implemented in May, 2026, according<\/a> to the European Commission.<\/p>\n

The agreement is being hailed as an economic boon for both EU and Latin American nations. https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2026\/04\/as-eu-mercosur-agreement-goes-into-effect-environmentalists-raise-red-flags\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While news reports point to 780 million people in the EU and Mercosur block, if you add the associated member countries, this is over 1 billion people.<\/p>\n

Therefore, yes, the EU is making trade moves away from the USA.<\/p>\n

It also made a major trade deal with India this year (see\u00a0EU makes \u2018mother of all deals\u2019 with India\u2013another step to become \u2018Babylon the Great\u2019 for trade?<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Regarding trade, now notice something from my free eBook titled Unintended Consequences and Donald Trump\u2019s Presidency: Is Donald Trump Fulfilling Biblical, Islamic, Greco-Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and other America-Related Prophecies?<\/a><\/span>:<\/p>\n

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Trade \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The morning after his reelection, I wrote:<\/p>\n

\u00a0… Europe will get more serious about trade deals with others internationally, such as being more motivated to approve the trade deal with the Mercosur block of South America. …<\/p>\n

One of the unintended consequences of Donald Trump\u2019s threats of tariffs and other trade matters is that it is motivating nations he has threatened to look to trade more with each other.<\/p>\n

Europe will get more serious about trade deals with others internationally \u2026<\/p>\n