Brussels to give green light for EU-Japan trade talks

The European Commission decided on the 18 July 2012 to ask the EU Member States for their agreement on opening negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with Japan. Negotiating directives will be submitted to the Council which will have to give the Commission a mandate to start negotiating.

Japan is the EU's second biggest trading partner in Asia, after China, and together the EU and Japan account for more than a third of world GDP. A trade deal with Japan could boost the EU's GDP by almost 1% and EU exports to Japan could increase by one third.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG Trade: Trade: Creating opportunities: Bilateral relations: Countries: Japan http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/countries/japan/

European Commission: RAPID: Press Release: IP/12/810: Commission proposes to open negotiations for a Free Trade deal with Japan http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/810&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

---