<h1>Free trade cooperation: EU and Japan launch competitiveness alliance to reinforce rules based trade and counter unfair practices.</h1> EU and Japan launched a competitiveness alliance to deepen economic cooperation, promote free trade, counter unfair trade practices, and support a rules-based economic order anchored by the World Trade Organisation. The agreement advances cooperation on innovation and energy, strengthens defence industry collaboration, and begins talks on an information security agreement, linking economic and security objectives amid shifting global trade dynamics.