Japan, EU to finalise free trade deal, offset Trump policies

Tokyo, June 30 (IANS) Representatives from Japan and the EU started a series of meetings on Friday aimed at finalising a free trade agreement that would safeguard against protectionist policies championed by US President Donald Trump.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida received the European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom in the Japanese capital for meetings that will continue till Saturday, Efe news reported.

The EU delegation includes European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan, who will meet with his Japanese counterpart Yuji Yamamoto with the aim of making advancements in opening up their respective agricultural markets.

The EU has urged Japan to lift the high tariffs on cheese, wine and other agricultural and farm-based products, whereas Tokyo has asked Brussels to remove the 10 per cent duties imposed on Japanese automobiles and those of 3 to 4.5 per cent on component parts.

The chief negotiators from both sides have been engaged in informal talks for around three weeks in the Japanese capital and the visit of the European Commissioners would serve to clear logjams on key issues.

Kishida said that they would hold frank discussions to resolve pending issues and that the negotiation would be extremely difficult, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

The aim is to permanently seal the deal during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's trip to Europe to meet with the EU leaders in Brussels on July 6 and attend the G20 summit the following day in Germany.

Japan and the EU started free trade negotiations in 2013. However, they faced a roadblock due to disagreements on key issues.

Both parties now have decided to accelerate the process following "Brexit" and the US leaving the Trans-Pacific Partnership.