BRUSSELS--The European Union sought Asian support for free trade, the Iran nuclear deal and fighting global warming at a regional summit on Thursday that included China, Japan and Russia as a counterbalance to a more protectionist United States.
Leaders from the EU, Switzerland and Norway welcomed 21 Asian counterparts including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang after an EU summit dominated by negotiations over Britain's planned departure from the world's biggest trading bloc.
The 51 gathered leaders were set to show "strong support" for the World Trade Organisation that U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to quit, and express "profound alarm" about climate change, according to a draft communique seen by Reuters.
When asked if the gathering was anti-Trump, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "we don't organise meetings against anyone," but Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah said the U.S. president's trade tariffs had united EU and Asia.
"Of course there's more reason for why we should come closer together. We are working together to help each other for free and fair trade," she told reporters when asked about Trump.
The EU and Asia will also discuss the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, Mogherini said. Myanmar's minister for international cooperation, Kyaw Tin, was attending the gathering.
On Friday, the EU and Asian leaders - who represent 55 percent of global trade - will underline "their joint commitment to open, free and non-discriminatory trade" and "to fight all forms of protectionism," according to the draft communique.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told an Asia-Europe business forum before the summit that trade had pulled millions of people out of absolute poverty, but that countries could not ignore the environmental impact of trade and development.
