Britain's EU days are over, French foreign minister tells Japanese firms

France can't beat the UK in any way whatsoever!!

Whinging, striking, workshy, layabouts.

Take your business there at your peril Japan.

Made in the UK still means something.

UK will be fine, EU will be fine, the sky is not falling. The only concern I have is Japan. Japan must work very hard to keep No3 status. Time has no sympathy.

Britain's EU days are over.

Thank goodness for that.

Not sure what his point is.  seems like he is stating the bleeding obvious.

the entire point of Brexit was exactly this result, the, UK out from under an unnecessary group of parasite politicians. if anything the, French political assured Japan that the, EU won't be able to affect the UK with it's incompetence, which ensures a UK Japan trade deal will be easy to do successfully

U.K own goal. Brexit is a demonstration of everything that is wrong with mass media in the West in 2018, thats for sure. The lies told during that campaign made the eyes water.

Japan should work with the E.U to setup more factories in Eastern Europe. Hungary/Poland etc. Why?

Cheaper labour and you won't be able to compete in the E.U market to the same extent by setting up in France or Germany and the added benefit that building up Eastern Europe, financially, is beneficial to the E.U in the long run. Its a way of hedging against Russian influence and to a lesser extent Chinese influence.

The E.U, even France, should encourage that move.

Areas like finance are more appropriate in Paris of Frankfurt.

Matt Hartwell, you have never been in East Europe, have you ? What a joke to talk about hedging China. Eastern Europe love China, admire China. You just make yourself a fool.

Matt Hartwell, you have never been in East Europe, have you ? What a joke to talk about hedging China. Eastern Europe love China, admire China. You just make yourself a fool.

They like Chinese money, that's where the love ends. They are Europeans, with European traditions after all. If anything, they are far closer to Russia than the Chinese.

Made in the UK still means something. not when those EU tariffs kick in, All the Brexit supporters though there would be no ramification from the this, well now there clearly is the sharks are circling what is UK manufacturing that'll have to be moved to the EU to remain competitive with other factories already within the EU. 60%+ of all UK manufactured goods are currently exported to the EU.

Matt Hartwell, to your surprise, there are things that money won't buy. The friendship between EU and China is a proof. I don't have time to explain more to you. You have to read more.

Japan has to be on board with the new silk road. No alternatives, period. The economics doesn't lie. In 10 years, Eurasia will be totally a different world.

The friendship between EU and China is a proof.

Firstly, there are two Europe's. Eastern Europe is heavily influenced by Russian history, far more so than China.

Then you have Western Europe, which is the founding culture, along with Britain, of the Western democratic tradition.

I think you overstate the friendship, big time. Again it comes down to money. The EU needs new markets. China is a massive, developing and wealthy market. They will attempt to get along with China up to the point it becomes detrimental. That's why you see them fighting back against Chinese investment in strategically important industries. Fundamentally these are Western democratic nation states you're talking about. They do not believe in Chinese authoritarianism or nationalism. They reject it outright. There also, in the main, are NATO countries still very much aligned with the U.S, even with Trump in charge.

None of that is ever going to change.

Don't mistake economics for political loyalty and what happens when push comes to shove.

Japan has to be on board with the new silk road. No alternatives, period. The economics doesn't lie. In 10 years, Eurasia will be totally a different world.

It will also be a world in which India has an increasingly stronger stake. If you project out 40 years from now China has the number one economy, but India and the U.S are second and third. Japan maybe holds 4th, but of course the E.U as a whole will have equivalent weight to India and the U.S.

That's the way its headed. China number 1 and the democratic world 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th.

It sure is going to be interesting.

Matt Hartwell, my advice to you is to stop reading rumors and fake news. What I recommended to you is to read history and crystal balls. EU nations HAVE very positive relationships with China, long ago. There is no need to divide EU with geography and ideology. European cultures are very rich, Europeans are very thoughtful, they don't need your instructions. Yes, China is a socialist nation, so what ? The socialism is Europeans idea and China accepts it. Are you confused ? I said you need to read more, I mean it.

Made in the UK still means something.

Well it depends on the products you're talking about. The 'made in Germany' label is pretty strong in some areas (cars, technology, even pharma etc) and 'made in france' in others (fashion, chemicals, renewable energies etc). Same with the UK, Italy, Sweden etc.

My point is many nations have areas/industries of expertise, no need to turn this into a childish 'but my country is better than yours' thread.

Fear mongering tactics in sales is often a sign of desperation. Hope Le Drian had more to offer than this (for EU's sake). Pretty bad sales pitch when you focus on competitors.

Matt Hartwell, unfortunately, you left Russia out. You also left Brazil out. Japan has to work very hard to keep up in the ranks. Germany is very competitive, so is France and UK. The new silk road will add momentum to EU nations. The proximity advantage that Japan has may dissipate, if the relationship with neighbors are not handled properly. You also forgot reunified Korea. I said you need to read crystal balls, I mean it.

Matt Hartwell, my advice to you is to stop reading rumors and fake news. What I recommended to you is to read history and crystal balls. EU nations HAVE very positive relationships with China, long ago. There is no need to divide EU with geography and ideology. European cultures are very rich, Europeans are very thoughtful, they don't need your instructions. Yes, China is a socialist nation, so what ? The socialism is Europeans idea and China accepts it. Are you confused ? I said you need to read more, I mean it.

You cannot compare authoritarian Chinese socialism in which Chinese agents kidnap their own citizens, among many, many other differences along with the hyper nationalism in China to the democratic socialism at play in most of Europe. They do not match. Its as simple as that. You need to read history from Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire forward. You might learn something. Western Europe is also heavily influences by Christianity compared to say Confucius/Daoism in China. China does everything it can to obliterate Christianity in China. Again, that doesn't match with European ideals, nor Russian for that matter, in which the Russian orthodox church plays a solid role. Again, its Christian.

 you left Russia out. You also left Brazil out.... Germany is very competitive, so is France and UK.... reunified Korea

Russia has a GDP, at present, around the same size of Australia's GDP with a population of 130 million. Russia relies far too heavily on fossil fuels and non-renewables. They have no real tech industry despite having some incredibly smart people. They have a defence industry which does very well. Overall, its a country that desperately needs to diversify, but there up against some really tough competition. The U.S, China, even Europe has the march on Russia when it comes to high tech. They do have a pretty good space industry.

Brazil. Yes they have a lot of potential. Currently a lot of political problems. They will dominate South America for sure. A long way from Asia though. Germany, France, U.K, yes they will continue to grow at a moderate pace. They have a problem an aging population, same as Japan. They also have some problems with elements of Muslim immigration. Reunified Korea, well yes absolutely in the very long term, but its going to cost a vast some to get North Korea up to speed. If it ever happens. I hope so, as long as its under South Korean control.

Matt Hartwell, my advice for you is stop using religion to divide the world. Christian and Confucianism share many many important things. Both promote the universal idea to love your neighbors. Assuming you could use ideology to divide the world, then you could also do so using color. The trouble is that you may never get along with your wife because you have different sex. There are so many ways to divide humanity, they are all wrong.

my advice for you is stop using religion to divide the world. Christian and Confucianism share many many important things. Both promote the universal idea to love your neighbors. Assuming you could use ideology to divide the world, then you could also do so using color. The trouble is that you may never get along with your wife because you have different sex. There are so many ways to divide humanity, they are all wrong.

I have no desire to divide the world along religious lines, absolutely none. That would be a disaster. Its happened before in Europe. If you look at the Middle East, its still happening with the age old sunni/shia battle.

I think Daoism is closer to Christianity than Confucianism btw. There is the greater sense of the battle between chaos and order in Daoism, which is a significant part of Christian mythology.

Idealogy is important, but left and right politics is less important than fundamental belief systems which are often based in religion. It forms the underpinning for law. That law governs how we live in society. Christianity underpins Western culture, or should I say, it use to underpin Western culture. Its where we derived the idea of human rights from which eventually lead to democracy and all the rights we have accrued under it.

There are so many ways to divide humanity, they are all wrong.

Yes and no. I say no because the nation state has been a quite successful way of achieving prosperity and security for a great many people. I am not convinced that supra-national bodies, like the E.U for instance, holds significant advantages over the nation state in terms of happiness, prosperity and general quality of life.

The U.K. will have to try a bit harder and make new relationships.However, Macron is very much mistaken! The U.K. Is a major trading partner for France and that is not not ending soon-renogotiate is the operative word!

Japan will be under no illusions about the nightmare that is the French Labour Code and Practices and I suspect will keep clear. Any new company that opens for business in France is bound by them and the booklet is larger than the Bible! Workers run the show in France! Japan Beware! You want a good work ethic go to Germany!

I’m in no way a supporter of Brexit but Le Drian’s comments are a bit too previous. No one knows what the future UK-EU relationship will be. And there’s at least three years before any impact can be felt so plenty of time to decide whether to sit tight or flit.