(Adnkronos) – Fellow democracies and G7 nations Italy and Japan have embraced freedom, peace and multilateralism in the post-war era and moved to integrate their markets with a 2019 economic partnership that abolished duties between Japan and Europe, president Sergio Mattarella said on Wednesday during an official visit to Japan.
‘We have built together the path of democracy and peace in the post-World War II international scenario that after the very high price paid by that dramatic global conflict,” Mattarella said in a speech to Japan’s confederation of industry (Keidanren).
“Japan and Italy were able to affirm the close link between democracy and prosperity, rightfully joining the G7 industrialised countries, adhering to principles such as freedom, respect, multilateralism,” Mattarella continued.
Mattarella praised Japan and Italy, which have made “the industriousness of our two peoples a vehicle for an ever greater development of international trade and interdependence, elements that guarantee peace in the world.”
“Today, integration between the Japanese and European markets is ever closer,” Mattarella underlined.
“This is thanks to the economic partnership agreement signed in 2019 between Tokyo and Brussels, which eliminated duties on European exports to Japan and vice versa: an agreement that is a far cry from the protectionism that is currently returning,” Mattarella said.
US president Donald Trump this month slapped 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, along with a doubling of tariffs on Chinese goods to 20%, a first round of tariffs on European companies including Swiss chocolatiers and German car parts makers and a second barrage looming in April, with Trump threatening a 25% “reciprocal rate on European goods” amid fears of an escalating trade war.
