Brussels — The EU and Japan announced on Friday that they have finalised terms for a giant free-trade deal, presenting it as a challenge to the protectionism championed by US President Donald Trump. The trade deal, which the EU called its biggest ever, must still be signed and ratified by both sides who first agreed to its broad outlines in July. Once completed, it will forge an economic zone of 600-million people with 30% of global GDP. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hailed the imminent birth of what he called a "gigantic economic zone" when he confirmed the conclusion of the negotiations for the Economic Partnership Agreement. "Japan and the EU will join hands and build an economic zone based on free and fair rules," Abe told reporters in Tokyo. Abe and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said earlier that the agreement, which had been four years in the making, has "strategic importance" beyond its economic value. "It sends a clear signal to the world that the EU and...
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