About this episode

The episode discusses ASEAN's trade relations with the European Union, focusing on free trade agreements and challenges such as counterfeit goods and labor rights.

The European Union is ASEAN’s third largest trading partner after China and the United States and its third largest source of direct foreign investment, with last year’s total merchandise trade reaching about $320 billion. It’s a formidable number, which both sides would like to improve upon and the EU is negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) with Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines after successfully signing such deals with Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Chris Humphrey, executive director of the EU-ASEAN Business Council, spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the status of current FTA negotiations and issues including counterfeit goods, labor rights, environmental standards, and protectionism. In regards to counterfeit goods, he noted that ASEAN’s top six economies – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam – lost as an estimated $13 billion to illicit tobacco products over the past two years. Indonesia accounted for more than $5 billion of those losses while more than half of cigarettes sold in Malaysia were illicit – making it the only market where illicit cigarettes outnumbered legal sales. “So there are things that need to be resolved…

People in this episode

Host: Luke Hunt

Guest: Chris Humphrey

Topics covered

• ASEAN trade
• European Union
• free trade agreements
• counterfeit goods
• labor rights
• environmental standards
• protectionism

Keywords

• ASEAN
• European Union
• trade agreements
• counterfeit goods
• foreign investment
• illicit tobacco
• labor rights
• environmental standards

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: EU-ASEAN Business Council, European Union

Places: Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia

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