ACEA stands firm as EU-Japan FTA talks accelerate

Negotiations between the EU and Japan on a free trade and economic partnership agreement began in earnest in April 2013, and the 18^th round of talks concluded in April 2017. An FTA could make life significantly easier for OEMs and suppliers in both countries, with Japanese OEMs gunning to remove EU tariffs on imported vehicles, and European OEMs and suppliers hoping to ease access to the Japanese market. The next round of talks is scheduled for mid-June 2017 in Japan.

Erik Bergelin is the Trade and Economic Director at the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), and works with the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) on regulatory matters. As he emphasised in a recent Automotive World interview, while it is not up to a single industry to