Is Europe closing the door on its nearshore manufacturing backbone? Why the Japan-Türkiye EPA would come at the right time

As Brussels debates the Industrial Acceleration Act (IAA) and tightens local-content rules under “Made in Europe,” a concerning blind spot has emerged: Türkiye.

Despite a three-decade Customs Union and being an integral part of European automotive, aerospace, and machinery supply chains, Türkiye risks finding itself on the outside of EU public procurement preferences and clean-tech subsidies.

If you ask us, European industry treating Türkiye as a third-party bystander rather than a core nearshore partner is a strategic miscalculation. But for Turkish industry, it raises an existential question: Is a “Go East” strategy no longer just an alternative, but an imperative?

Enter the final stages of the Japan-Türkiye Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The timing could not be more critical…

While Brussels looks inward, Tokyo is looking to diversify:

📍 De-risking & Nearshoring: Japanese OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers urgently need high-grade, cost-competitive manufacturing hubs outside East Asia to serve EMEA markets.

📍 Technology Meets Agility: Japan brings long-term capital, high-spec automation, and green transition technology (hydrogen, storage, grid). Türkiye brings scale, rapid execution, an agile workforce, and deep market reach into Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

📍 Joint Global Execution: Beyond mere bilateral trade, this is about Japanese balance sheets and engineering partnering with Turkish EPC contractors to rebuild critical infrastructure across the Global South.

For Türkiye, “Go East” doesn’t have to mean abandoning Europe. It means Turkish industrial leaders must stop operating as single-market price takers.

The Japan-Türkiye EPA offers a blueprint for how Ankara can re-anchor its industrial base: leveraging Japanese technology and capital to upgrade its manufacturing, while maintaining its position as the indispensable industrial crossroads between East and West.

Location, location, location… The geoeconomic map is being redrawn in real time. Capital will flow to whoever bridges the gap fastest.

How should Turkish manufacturing balance European regulatory pressures with East Asian strategic partnerships? With its industry, supply chains and geoeconomic intelligence expertise, Alagan Partners will take an active role in this discussion.

Join us in shaping the future of industrial resilience…