Trump sets his sights on France with threats to tariff French wine

As relations between China and the US have worsened, Tokyo and Brussels have sought to redouble efforts to preserve multilateral peace making and bodies such as the World Trade Organisation. “The Japan-EU relationship is in a fairly good place,” says Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform.

Trump’s decision to pull out of the 12-nation trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, “put more impetus into Japan pursuing its FTA with the EU”, Lowe contends.