EU, Japan, Close to Inking Bilateral Trade Agreement

The Reuters story is here.   Although the US withdrawal from TPP might have given these talks greater urgency, the agreement still remains limited in scope and participation. Instead, its significance lies in the strategic and political resonance to, in the words of some commentators, fill “the void in the world trade order created by the US.” Still, it is worth considering whether a deal between the EU and Japan could ever provide a platform for wider plurilateral trade negotiations involving other countries. (Though apparently, it remains comparable to previous agreements, in particular the EU-Canada accord).