Japan–European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
The Japan-EU 'Economic Partnership Agreement' is in force since 1 February 2019 after having been negotiated from 2013 to 2017. The EPA is the EU's largest bilateral free trade agreement, covering 30 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 40 percent of global trade. Japan's prime minister at the time, Shinzō Abe, said the deal signified the creation of "the birth of the world's largest, free, industrialised economic zone".