Merz pushes EU free trade deal with Pacific bloc on Singapore trip

Pitch for a Pacific trade bloc

Chancellor Friedrich Merz used his Asia trip to press for a free trade agreement between the EU and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). In a policy speech in Singapore, he said the bloc's twelve member countries, which span five continents and include Canada, Australia, Chile and the United Kingdom, have nearly 600 million people between them. The partnership was founded in 2018 to cut trade barriers. Merz argued that a deal would reflect how supply and production chains are now intertwined, and that the two blocs together account for more than a third of world trade.

“Let us work together towards a large interregional agreement with the members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

Linking EU agreements across Asia

Merz also proposed connecting the EU's separate trade agreements so that they work more efficiently together. He named deals the EU has with Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Australia and Malaysia, and said he did not want Europe to stop there. In the long term, he said, the goal is a free trade agreement between the EU and ASEAN, which has eleven member states with almost 700 million inhabitants. The EU's 27 countries have about 480 million people. The federal government does not negotiate these deals itself, because the EU leads them on behalf of all member states.

“I do not want us to stop here.”

An orchid named after the chancellor

Singapore has also honoured Merz with a plant. A newly bred orchid, the "Vanda Friedrich Merz", with purple-brown blossoms and deep green leaves, received his name during a short naming ceremony in the parliament building. Merz, who is 70, called it "a great honour". The orchid is Singapore's national flower, and high-ranking guests are traditionally honoured with newly bred orchids named after them. Earlier honourees include Angela Merkel, whose "Dendrobium Angela Merkel" was named in 2011, and Olaf Scholz, whose "Renanthera Olaf Scholz" followed in 2022. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Japan's Emperor Akihito have also received orchids, a practice locals also call "orchid diplomacy".

Next stops and the broader aim

Merz continues to Japan and South Korea, making this his third Asia trip as chancellor. In January he chose to visit India, the world's most populous country, before China, where he arrived only a few weeks later. Unlike his predecessors Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel, he chose that order. The aim of the trip, according to the reporting, is to broaden Germany's partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, with the trade pitch in Singapore as its opening step.