“We have looked at every aspect of the EPA (the Japan-EU deal) and decided whether we can improve on it,” said Zebedee.

horyuji-from-Japanvisitor.com_

“We are working very quickly and would both like to reach an agreement around the end of this month and sign a trade agreement formally in September,”  the UK’s chief negotiator, Graham Zebedee, said in a recent seminar.

The deal is being done quickly, the negotiations having only started on June 9th – it is said to closely parallel the EU-Japan FTA.

Japan is our 11th biggest export market and we are Japan’s 12th biggest export market.

UK-Japan trade is worth around $38 billion.