Free trade agreement set to be announced by Japan and EU

THE European Union and Japan are set to announce a major free trade agreement this Thursday.

EU Council President Donald Tusk and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet the day before the beginning of the G20 summit and are expected to officially endorse the deal. This action sends a clear message to the increasingly protectionist US.

The agreement will affect a vast amount of trade between two of the world´s largest economies.

The deal is believed to have been agreed in principle but still needs the approval of EU leaders and will take a number of months to negotiate.

This is yet another trade agreement, along with the recent finalisation of the EU-Canada free trade arrangement, that the UK is likely to be excluded from. In the event of a bad Brexit deal, the UK could be left with worse trade relationships with its neighbours than a nation half way across the world.