The Geoeconomic Turn on Stage: National Identity and the Interpretation of the EU's Trade Sustainability Diplomacy in Indonesia and Vietnam

Abstract In the context of the European Union's (EU's) geoeconomic shift, the governance of Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) has become a central yet contested pillar of its external trade policy. Accusations of green colonialism highlight the stakes around how partner countries interpret the EU's normative agenda. This article maintains that understanding partner‐country perspectives is essential for grasping the dynamics of the EU's TSD governance, focusing on how political elites in Vietnam and Indonesia, both major EU trade partners with distinct postcolonial backgrounds, interpret and frame these policies. This analysis argues that these interpretations rely less on policy details or material interests and more on national identity narratives. These narratives shape how the EU's claims are understood. Drawing on interviews and official documents, and using Goffman's frontstage and backstage concepts, the article examines how interpretations appear in both public and elite settings. The findings show that partner countries do not see the EU's geopolitical shift the same way. Instead, national identity in Indonesia and Vietnam leads to different views on the same policy tools. Focusing on how these policies are received, the article highlights how EU trade power is relationally constituted, depending on how its claims are interpreted and rearticulated by partner‐country actors.