EU, Japan join forces on trade challenging Trump

The EU and Japan broadly agreed on a massive free trade today in a clear challenge to US President Donald Trump days before he takes his "America First" stance to a key summit.
"We've reached political agreement at ministerial level on an EU-Japan trade deal," European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said in a tweet after talks in Brussels with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida which capped four years of tough negotiations.
The two sides "ironed out the few remaining differences" and will now "recommend to leaders to confirm this at summit" tomorrow, Malmstroem added.
The deal comes days before a G20 meeting in Germany at which Trump is expected to defend his protectionist stance on trade.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to officially rubberstamp the preliminary accord at a meeting tomorrow with EU Council President Donald Tusk and EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
The EU and Japanese economies combined account for a colossal 28 percent of global output making the deal one of the biggest trade pacts ever attempted.

The "political agreement" on the trade deal covers some of the accord's toughest aspects but leaves aside details that could still prove difficult.
At the heart of the deal is an agreement for the EU to open its market to the world-leading Japanese auto industry, with Tokyo in return scrapping barriers to EU farming products, especially dairy.

Left untouched for now are the controversial investment courts that have stoked opposition to trade deals in the EU nations, including Germany and France.
The deal could be seen as a provocation to Trump who pulled the United States out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership this year, in favour of striking country-to- country bilateral deals, including with Japan.