Note: This article was originally published in The East Asia Forum on 11 September 2018.  ERIA's Chief Economist, Prof Fukunari Kimura is the author.

The Japan–European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was formally signed on 17 July 2018 after an extended period of negotiation that began in April 2013. Both sides are now trying to ratify and validate the agreement before March 2019 to avoid any possible confusion that could be caused by Brexit and elections to the European Parliament. (Read the full article by using the link above).