This paper explores the forthcoming EU-Japan
Economic Partnership Agreement as an example of the EU’s intention to reach
deep FTAs with Asian trade partners. The
aim is to analyze this FTA in its global context, as well as to assess some of the
challenges related to the features of Japan’s regulatory environment from the
viewpoint of European businesses. Doing so, the paper draws from data from FTA
documents, WTO trade policy reviews, Business Confidence Surveys of the
European Chambers of Commerce in Japan, and World Bank’s Doing Business indicators.
The study covers the networks of FTAs of both
parties, the trade policies applied in EU-Japan trade, and the specific
barriers that foreign firms face in the Japanese business environment. The paper points at the different spheres of ‘trade policy’, which will potentially help
close the gap between the state and business sector realities and highlight the multi-scalar governance of trade.