The European Union and Japan have reached a political agreement on a wide-ranging free trade deal, European Council President Donald Tusk says.
"We did it. We concluded EU-Japan political and trade talks. EU is more and more engaged globally. Global Europe!" Tusk said on Twitter.
Tusk confirmed the initial deal after he and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Brussels.
The agreement, which will lead to the establishment of the EU's largest bilateral trade deal to date, will cover a market of 638 million people - about 28 per cent of the global economy.
The "agreement in principle" signals that the two sides have agreed on several major elements of the deal, with only a few issues remaining open. The legal text of the agreement has yet to be drafted.
