US and Japan Sign Digital Trade Agreement （英語）
First announced at the August Group of 7 Summit in Biarritz, France, the US-Japan Digital Trade Agreement (the “Agreement”) signed on October 7, 2019 aims to increase bilateral digital trade and sets standards for the two countries’ digital trade rules.
Digital trade between the US and Japan currently totals approximately $40 billion annually. The Agreement makes Japan an even more attractive market for digital businesses by addressing a broader range of issues than the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (“TPP”) would have. The Agreement can be seen as equivalent to the US-Mexico-
Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) signed on November 30, 2018 in terms of its coverage of issues related to promoting digital commerce.
The Agreement was submitted to an extraordinary session of the Japanese Parliament on October 15 and is expected to be ratified in
the very near future.