EU, Japan to work more closely to address unfair trade, EU’s von der Leyen says

The European Union and Japan will work more closely to counter economic coercion and address unfair trade practices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters on Wednesday.

Von der Leyen's comments came after an EU-Japan summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as the EU struggles to conclude a trade deal with the United States and a day before potentially tough meetings with Chinese leaders.

Japan struck a trade deal with the United States on Tuesday that lowered tariffs on auto imports in exchange for U.S.-bound investment and loans.

Von der Leyen said the EU and Japan would seek to strengthen economic security.

"We will also work more closely together to counter economic coercion and to address unfair trade practices," she said, adding later: "We believe in global competitiveness and it should benefit everyone."

Ishiba told reporters that the EU and Japan would work to maintain and strengthen a rules-based, free and fair economic order.

Ishiba added that the EU and Japan had agreed to work to strengthen the defence industry and to start talks for an information security agreement.

"In the field of security, we agreed to cooperate to launch a defense industry dialogue to strengthen the defense industrial base, which is a priority for both sides, and to begin official negotiations on a Japan-EU information security agreement," Ishiba said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Makini Brice and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Kim Coghill)