Revista de Economie Mondială (Mar 2018)

THE ECONOMIC AND GEOPOLITICAL MEANINGS BEHIND THE EU-JAPAN ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

  • Agnes Ghibuţiu

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 18 – 41

Abstract

Read online

In December 2017, the EU and Japan announced the conclusion of the final talks on their comprehensive Free Trade Agreement and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) respectively, negotiated since 2013. The EPA comes at a time when the international rules-based order and open trading system are facing the biggest challenges since their establishment in the aftermath of WW2. After a brief overview of the components of the new EPA, this paper highlights its economic, commercial, and geostrategic significance, and also assesses its implications for the EU and Japan, as well as the USA, and globally. According to its findings, in addition to the substantial potential economic benefits for the EU and Japan, the new agreement will trigger considerable geopolitical effects. Not only will it place the EU and Japan at the forefront of global trade liberalization and rulesetting, but it is also likely to have a beneficial influence on US trade policy. Yet, the current world order and the global trading system are still in flux, and their future is fraught with uncertainty.

Keywords