EU to Finalize Trade Pacts with Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia in 2026

The European Union is “advancing” in free trade talks with the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Thursday, September 25, shortly after signing a landmark trade pact with Indonesia, The Diplomat reported on September 26. 
 Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a meeting of economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the bloc’s major trading partners, Sefcovic said that he expected the EU to finalize and sign trade deals with the three nations by next year, Bloomberg reported. His comments came two days after he and his Indonesian counterparts signed a long-awaited free trade agreement, where it took nearly a decade to finally conclude. 
The Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) covers 21 areas of cooperation, including trade in goods and services, investment, customs procedures, digital trade, and sustainable growth. Under the agreement, both sides will remove import duties on more than 90 percent of products, most of them as soon as the deal enters force, which is expected to happen by January 2027.
 
The EU has already concluded free trade pacts in Southeast Asia with Singapore and Vietnam, which entered into force in November 2019 and August 2020, respectively. In March 2023, the European bloc agreed to resume free trade negotiations with Thailand after a nearly nine-year hiatus. It then did the same with Malaysia and the Philippines earlier this year.