‘CLEAR SIGNAL’:The two sides released a statement saying that the agreement showed their commitment to working on the basis of free, open and fair markets.
The EU and Japan on Friday announced that they have concluded negotiations for a giant free-trade deal while “fighting the temptation of protectionism,” in an apparent message to US President Donald Trump.
The trade deal, which the EU called its biggest-ever, must still be signed and ratified by both sides, after first agreeing to its broad outlines in July.
Once completed, it would forge an economic zone of 600 million people with 30 percent of global GDP.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hailed the imminent birth of what he called a “gigantic economic zone” when he confirmed the conclusion of the negotiations for the economic partnership agreement.
“Japan and the EU will join hands and build an economic zone based on free and fair rules,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo.
Abe and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker earlier said the agreement, which had been four years in the making, has “strategic importance” beyond its economic value.
“It sends a clear signal to the world that the EU and Japan are committed to keeping the world economy working on the basis of free, open and fair markets with clear and transparent rules fully respecting and enhancing our values, fighting the temptation of protectionism,” the pair said in a statement released in Brussels.
Under the deal, the EU would open its market to the world-leading Japanese auto industry, with Tokyo in return scrapping barriers to EU farming products, especially dairy.
EU officials have insisted that the deal would be a major boon for European farmers, who would gain access to a huge market that appreciates European products.
Hailing the opening of markets, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstroem told a news conference that “this is actually the biggest trade deal we have ever negotiated from the European Union.”
Malmstroem said negotiations for trade deals with Mexico and South America’s Mercosur states were also at “advanced” stages.
The finalization of the EU-Japan trade terms now paves the way for the signature, ratification and full implementation of the deal, which EU officials hope could be as soon as January 2019.
However, anti-trade activists, who have said such deals favor multinationals at the expense of democracy and the environment, might influence events when the deal comes up for ratification in the bloc’s more than 30 regional and national parliaments.
Last year, the EU’s Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada nearly sank on such concerns when the small Belgian region of Wallonia threatened to veto it, before eventually relenting.
Left unsolved for now is the issue of controversial investment courts, which have stoked opposition to trade deals in EU nations, including Germany and France.
Malmstroem told a news conference that the EU was holding out for its own courts to settle commercial disputes, while Japan supported an older system.
“We can catch up with this at a later stage,” she said. |
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