Japan and the EU finally reached a broad agreement on the free trade. Prime Minister Abe, EU President Tusk and European Commission President Juncker officially announced the agreement in Hamburg on 6 July, local time. The Japan-EU EPA, which has been under negotiation since 2013, was in deadlock due to a disagreement on agricultural products and automobiles.  The negotiation held in Brussels earlier this week pushed the both parties to agree on a gradual lift of the tariffs of these products, partially because they had an intention to showcase the value of the free trade prior to G20 summit while the world is inclining to the protectionism, such as US’s withdrawal from TPP. The details of the agreement are yet to be discussed, aiming to reach to the final agreement by the end of this year.  For more details, please click the link below to an article to the Nikkei Asian Review.