Senior European Union and Japanese officials reached a free-trade agreement on Wednesday, paving the way for leaders to conclude the political accord Thursday, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said.
"We've reached political agreement at ministerial level on an EU-Japan trade deal. We now recommend to leaders to confirm this at summit," she tweeted after meeting Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Brussels. "We ironed out the few remaining differences."
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should now sign the "political agreement" with EU institutional chiefs Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk on Thursday in Brussels. The three men will then head to a G-20 summit in Hamburg, where the EU and Japan will urge U.S. President Donald Trump not to weaken U.S. free trade traditions.