Japan's Motegi: Japan must defend free trade and prevent slowdown

Japan's Economy minister Motegi on Friday said the world's third largest economy must defend free trade and prevent economic slowdown. 

Motegi's comments come after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept key policy tools unchanged, but downgraded its assessment on the economy, citing growing risks from the external sector. After all, China - biggest market for Japanese exports - is witnessing a slowdown due to trade tensions with the US.