The UK, currently embroiled in a row with the EU and struggling to reach a trade agreement with the bloc, has this morning (11 September) announced a trade deal with Japan.

The Department of International Trade trumpeted the agreement as “the UK’s first major trade deal as an independent trading nation”.

The UK said the agreement would increase trade with Japan by around £15.2 billion.

Benefits

The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was agreed in principle by the UK’s international trade minister Liz Truss and Japan’s foreign minister Motegi Toshimitsu on a video call.

The UK said its businesses would benefit from tariff-free trade on 99% of exports to Japan, adding that manufacturers, food and drink producers and the tech sector were all set to gain.

The EU and Japan signed a trade deal which came into force in February 2019, but this will no longer apply to the UK at the end of its transition period on 31 December.