Japan and Britain broadly agreed today, on Friday on a free trade deal, setting the stage for companies to remain under existing bilateral tariff arrangements after the transition period for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union concludes at year-end, Kyodo reported. "In most areas, we have reached substantial agreement," Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters online after two days of late-stage negotiations in London, adding the two countries will work on the remaining details for a fuller agreement by the end of this month. Motegi and British International Trade Secretary Liz Truss had what she called "positive negotiations" on the envisioned free trade deal, which largely replicates the terms of a Japan-EU agreement that took effect in February 2019. The deal is likely to provide the impetus for Britain to join the trans-Pacific free trade agreement grouping 11 countries, including Japan, Australia and Mexico, accounting for about 13 percent of the global economy. Ministerial-level delegates from the 11 trans-Pacific partnership members on Thursday released a statement saying they "warmly welcome" the interest that was shown by several economies, including Britain, to accede to the multilateral framework. Britain is a major trade partner for Japan, with trade between them worth about $38 billion in 2019. Japan was Britain's 11th largest export market, and Britain was the 12th biggest market for Japan. Britain is home to the offices of nearly 1,000 Japanese companies, which have created 180,000 jobs, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
