The new politics of trade: EU-Japan

Unlike the European Union’s (EU) negotiations with the US and Canada, the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations have encountered few critics from civil society organisations (CSO) and therefore became an ‘exceptional’ case for the EU. There are four reasons. The first is that the main focus of the EPA is still on ‘old’ issues such as tariff reduction of motorcars, electronics and agricultural products. The second is the relative lack of innovative proposals compared to the American and Canadian case. The third is Japan’s lack of ability and competitiveness to export its regulations, making Japan’s attitude relatively defensive. Finally, the modest scale of Japan-EU trade compared to transatlantic trade. These four reasons made the level of contestation relatively low, but this has not led to an acceleration of concluding the EPA. Uncertainty caused by Trump and the Brexit referendum have made Japan’s trade policy complicated and unpredictable