politics

UK, Japan aim for 'ambitious' trade deal

28 Comments
By Tim Kelly

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28 Comments
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Please continue Reckless and tell us all about the deal.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Good for both sides.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Japan is really basing a trade deal on its food fro Fukushima?

Not likely, but it seems so in the article.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Possibly, Reckless, but there are quite a few remainers here, not to mention Scots and Irish, who would like to see England, and only England, fail.

And yet, nobody here has said such a thing.

Why make false statements?

If anything, people have wished the UK well and only asked that Scotland and the occupied 6 counties can leave the Union.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Japan has trade agreements with  Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam through the CPTPP, also known as TPP11. Japan has a free trade agreement with ASEAN countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Japan has a Economic Partnership Agreement with India. Since 2012, Japan has been negotiating a free trade agreement with China and South Korea. The negotiations are continuing. Japan has a trade pact with the EU, the Economic Partnership Agreement. The U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement (USJTA) took effect on January 1, 2020.

On the other hand, the UK has trade agreements with powerhouse economies such as Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Chile, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe, the Faroe Islands (population 51,000), Georgia, Iceland, Norway, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Switzerland, and Tunisia. The UK's only significant trade agreement is with South Korea.

The UK is over a barrel. The US, Japan, China, etc can demand the terms they want because the UK has only one trade agreement of any significance and so is desperate.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

The UK has a lot going for it regarding food export to Japan but the other way?

I would be Skeptical....

3 ( +5 / -2 )

This year is where the rubber of Brexit hits the road of reality.

As wipeout says, most favoured nation clauses will restrict what terms Japan can offer other trading partners. These negotiations between the UK and Japan will be held in the wiggle room left by the EU-Japan trade deal. There is no blank slate.

Even if a blank sheet of paper were assumed, it is naive to think trade talks between UK (70 million consumers) and Japan (125 million, nearly 1:2 in Japan's favour) would go as well as those between the EU (500 million consumers at the time) and Japan (125 million, 4:1 in the EU's favour). The UK and Japan do not have polar opposite strengths, so such trade will not be mutually beneficial to everyone in the two countries. There will be losers in some sectors.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Dominic Raab is on which tour? Choose one:

〇 The 'Grovel' tour.

〇 The 'Short end of the stick' tour.

〇 The 'Anything will do' tour.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

So, the UK is back to the 1950's and the age of bi-lateral trade agreements now that Brexit is done?

I don't think this ^ is proven yet.

Bilateral trade like what other countries has done in recent time is nothing like bilateral trade of the 50ties. Now it's more about the fit (into the global suppky chain and market place.

Unfortunately what the UK can offer Japan is already offered by other nations, possibly more efficiently. Whereas what Japan can offer the UK isxa very good fit for its high value added economy.

IMHO, this deal is going to be a long drawnout process.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Already, England is home to a sizeable Japanese population conducting trade very efficiently...

4 ( +6 / -2 )

We have too much in common, too much at stake for politics to trump the mutual economic self interest

In that case, find a time machine, go back to 2016, and share this insightful remark with Johnson, Gove, and co.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The UK and Japan can make a trade deal without having EU bureaucrats involved. And that is the way it should be.

There is no need for Japan to become a member of the EU to trade with the UK, and vice versa.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

Possibly, Reckless, but there are quite a few remainers here, not to mention Scots and Irish, who would like to see England, and only England, fail.

I don’t know about here, but I have come across those types. I was a reluctant remainer but the childishness of some who’d like to see England suffer because of Brexit is idiotic spite.

My biggest worry is the Tories shaping post-Brexit Britain. It isn’t going to pretty for the less well-off with these dogs off the leash.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Dominic Raab is a moron and would have trouble negotiating a glass of tepid water. The man who resigned as Brexit secretary in opposition to the Draft Withdrawal Agreement that he himself drew up and negotiated in the first place... he's a complete waste of oxygen.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

A shambling fool waving a kipper sums up so well what the next five years have in store for Britain.

Classic. Thanks for the chuckle.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japan should not rush into this kind of thing, as they often do, wanting to be first. It tends to backfire, and they'll be the first to fail as a result.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

WilliB: "The UK and Japan can make a trade deal without having EU bureaucrats involved. And that is the way it should be."

And Japan should stop asking to be an exception all the time when it DOES deal with other nations, as with the UK, Iran, and constantly with the US. And you watch, the EU is going to be harsh with nations that make special deals with the UK that undermine it, and Japan will turn around and ask to be an exception.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Delighted to see all the many bitter doom and gloom comments from the remoaners. Looking forward to when they're proven wrong and the UK finally prospers.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Unfortunately what the UK can offer Japan is already offered by other nations

Mature cheddar. Crumpets. Scotch.

Only the UK can offer these things.

I do hope Japan takes them up on that offer - assuming CCS is on offer. (Though I'm not too pleased at the prospect of family back in the UK being fed glow-in-the-dark sushi in return...)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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