EU and Japan taking the lead on trade liberalisation

BusinessEurope welcomes the announcement of a political agreement in the EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.

Markus J. Beyrer, Director General of BusinessEurope, said:

“After hard negotiations, the EU and Japan are sending a very positive signal to the world. We still need to see the text of the agreement but having two leading G20 economies agreeing on expanding trade and investment ties is extremely positive. We are asking G20 to take action against protectionism and this is a concrete example of how this could be done.”

The agreement should remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade but more importantly it should be forward-looking. Preventing the risk of future non-tariff barriers by establishing an on-going regulatory dialogue on both sides is key. 

Beyrer continued:

“We are aware there are still pending issues but we expect a high degree of ambition in the EU-Japan FTA in terms of market access, procurement, removal of non-tariff barriers, geographical indications, services and investment. Non-tariff barriers have been at the centre of these negotiations and we expect the final agreement will match expectations. Going forward we expect both sides to remain committed to regulatory cooperation as a way of securing some of the most important gains of these negotiations.”