European Firms Bet on ASEAN, Not China — Free Zones Wait on a Regional FTA

FTZ News: Mapping the road ahead for European business shows that for the next five years they have placed special weight on ASEAN and Southeast Asia, and that China has fallen out of their circle of priorities. A regional free-trade agreement with ASEAN itself has now become a necessity for the Europeans.

A survey by the EU-ASEAN Business Council published on September 8, 2026, shows explicitly that 61% of the 150 European executives who took part regard ASEAN as offering the strongest economic opportunity. What is striking is that the figure last year was about 56%. It has been said that this is the twelfth survey conducted.

Another fact in the survey’s output is that about 16% of those 150 European executives’ votes went into India’s column, and South Asia took about 12% of the votes. Europe, with 3%, also drew one of the weakest readings.

More striking still, 78% expect their trade and investment in ASEAN to rise over five years; last year the figure was 71%. Another 78% want a strong presence in at least one ASEAN market. In the survey, Vietnam took 64%, Indonesia 57, Malaysia and Thailand 49 each, Singapore 44, and the Philippines 43.

At first glance these may look like figures of optimism rather than a customs ruling, but the facts and the priorities show that ASEAN has become a desirable market — and a popular one — with a high degree of hope for the Europeans. Even so, the survey is not all hope: 81% of those 150 European executives said U.S. tariff conditions have reduced their confidence in working in ASEAN to some degree.

The free-trade agreement is where Brussels has hesitated somewhat. In fact, 74% of the European executives prefer an EU–ASEAN regional FTA to a string of bilateral deals. That figure was 84% last year and 88% the year before.

On the other side, 49% want regional talks to start in the fiftieth year of diplomatic relations, 2027 — note: not that an agreement be signed, but that consultations only then begin.

For ASEAN’s free zones and industrial parks the survey may not amount to an investment verdict, but it does appear at least to give a bearing and a direction. It should also be said that if regional talks begin in 2027, rules of origin and product lists will change for the whole bloc; the fence around a zone in the Philippines or Malaysia will then be written into the European buyer’s calculations as well.

In the end it must be said that the survey’s sample is only 150 people, not a census of European industry. It is a sentiment reading from some executives. Still, this twelfth survey says plainly that businesses do not find the short path sufficient, and that at the same time their appetite for a large pact has faded year by year./.


photo By Citra Nasruddin