Japan’s economic partnership agreement with the European Union entered into force on Friday, creating a free trade area covering about a third of the world’s economy. The pact will eliminate tariffs on most reciprocal trade, which covers markets of over 600 million people, encourage business investment and ensure
Japan’s economic partnership agreement with the European Union entered into force on Friday, creating a free trade area covering about a third of the world’s economy.
The pact will eliminate tariffs on most reciprocal trade, which covers markets of over 600 million people, encourage business investment and ensure the protection of intellectual property rights, as Japan and the European Union hope to provide a strong counter to creeping protectionism amid a U. S.-China tariff war.
Under the pact signed in July and ratified in December after five years of negotiations, consumers will gain access to cheaper imported food items, while the elimination of duties on industrial products will help curb costs for exporters.
In all, Japan will scrap tariffs on around 94 percent of agricultural and industrial products and the European Union will end duties on around 99 percent of imports.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pinned his hopes on the pact along with an 11-member trans-Pacific free trade agreement that took effect in December, as a growth driver for the world’s third-largest economy.
Preparing for the immediate removal of a 15 percent tariff once the deal takes effect, Japanese retailers Aeon Co and Seven & I Holdings Co have already promised to cut prices on imported wines from the European Union, home to major wine producing countries like France, Italy and Spain.
