BRUSSELS (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and top European Union officials are discussing trade, bilateral ties and North Korea, on the latest leg of Abe’s international tour to prepare for the G-20 summit in June.
The Japanese premier, EU Council President Donald Tusk and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are likely Thursday to underline their support for open trade and the rules-based multilateral order, ahead of Abe’s stopover in Washington.
Abe is also expected to raise concerns about the impact of Britain leaving the 28-nation EU, given the number of Japanese companies operating in the U.K.
The diplomats will also assess progress with an EU-Japan trade agreement that took effect in February. It removes most of the 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) that EU companies pay in export duties to Japan.
