ISDS Case Map
Japan
Despite warm words about providing aid during Japan's hour of need, substantial steps towards a free trade agreement with the European Union are unlikely to come out of the bilateral summit at the end of May, says Public Service Europe
The government should promptly decide to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and implement bold agricultural reforms in the disaster-hit Tohoku region, writes the Yomiuri Shimbun
Business lobbies of Japan and the European Union have jointly called on their leaders to agree to launch negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement during a summit meeting scheduled for later this month in Brussels.
The European Parliament on Wednesday adopted a resolution in support of signing an economic partnership agreement with Japan on condition that Tokyo further opens up its market.
Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany wants the European Union to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Japan following a similar deal with South Korea.
Top trade officials from South Korea, China and Japan agreed Sunday to conclude a joint study on the feasibility of a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) at an earlier date, South Korean officials said.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stressed Thursday in Tokyo the importance of concluding a free trade agreement between the country and Japan, while vowing to remain a reliable supplier of natural resources to the quake-hit nation.
Japan and Luxembourg agreed Tuesday to push forward the launch of negotiations on sealing a free-trade agreement between Tokyo and the 27-nation European Union, with an eye on reaching an accord during the next Japan-EU summit talks slated for late May in Brussels, officials said.
Japanese automakers and electronics giants have been ramping up efforts to make the government kick-start free trade talks with the EU, concerned about losing further market share to its South Korean competitors.
Canada and Japan announced in February that they were formally studying the possibility of concluding a bilateral free trade agreement. In an email interview, Carin Holroyd, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo, discussed economic relations between Canada and Japan.
