The EU needs to get its trade mojo back, say Sweden and Finland  

Those tools have “an adverse impact on the EU’s capability to negotiate trade deals and to deepen its partnerships with third countries,” the paper reads. 

The two Nordic countries want to put an end to using trade for other policy goals — and rely “more on positive incentives and market-driven solutions.” In other words, “there should be a carrot, in addition to a stick, in the EU’s toolbox.”

Another idea pitched by Stockholm and Helsinki is to deepen ties with the Asia-Pacific region, including with trade blocs such the Indo-Pacific CPTPP trade bloc and the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). 

More controversially, perhaps, is the intention also to turn to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free-trade agreement in which China is a member. At a time when Brussels is desperate to ‘de-risk’ its supply chains from Beijing, this is unlikely to go down well with the EU executive.  

“Much of the recent progress in the field of market access and the development of rules has taken place in the context of Asia-Pacific regional deals (CPTPP, RCEP, IPEF). In the meanwhile, the EU is taking a bilateral approach,” the three-page paper adds. 

“This approach should be readjusted, if the EU wants to maximize the access of its companies to Asia-Pacific regional markets and value chains.”