How Global Politics Are Shaping Japan-EU Trade Talks

How Global Politics Are Shaping Japan-EU Trade Talks
Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Brussels, Belgium, March 21, 2017 (AP photo).

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with European Union leaders in Brussels this week, vowing to secure a free trade deal with the bloc as soon as possible. Negotiations over the deal began in 2013 and have run into a number of roadblocks. In an email interview, J. Berkshire Miller, a Tokyo-based international affairs fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the challenges that remain to clinching the deal as well as what the two sides stand to gain.

WPR: What is the current state of economic and political ties between Japan and EU countries, how have they been evolving in the past decade, and how will a free trade agreement affect both sides?

Miller: Japan maintains traditionally positive relations with the EU as an institution and positive bilateral relations with most of the bloc’s member states. Tokyo has strong trade and investment links with many countries in the region, including Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Clearly, an FTA—which has been discussed for years—would be a positive mechanism to further economic relations.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review