EU Launches Trade Agreement Talks with Japan
The EU and Japan opened talks on a free trade agreement (FTA), the European Commission said March 25. Japan is the EU's seventh largest trading partner and its second biggest partner in Asia after China, it said. The EU is Japan's third largest trade partner after China and the U.S.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Negotiations are expected to produce a comprehensive agreement in goods, services and investment, the EC said. They will address several key concerns, including non-tariff barriers, regulatory issues, competition, and the further opening of Japan's public procurement market.
Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he has “no illusions” about the difficulties of arriving at an FTA. Dismantling persistent non-tariff barriers will be key to the pact's success, he said. To convince skeptics this is the right way to go, De Gucht said he'll review the status of the talks in about a year, and suspend negotiations if progress is unsatisfactory.
The EC also updated the status of its other FTAs. The EC's draft negotiating mandate for a U.S.-EU agreement is now awaiting approval from the EU Council of Ministers. Trade talks with Thailand began March 6, and with Morocco March 1. There are ongoing discussions with Canada; India; Malaysia; Mercosur nations (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Bolivia); Georgia, Armenia and Moldova; the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council; and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the EC said.