JAPANESE CONCERNS

According to The Guardian, (HERE) the head of the Japanese chamber of commerce has said that Japanese companies have already received approaches from European countries about relocating factories into the EU. He said this at a reception in parliament with, among others, David Davis who in reply said Britain after Brexit would be an open trading nation and it would have a comprehensive trade agreement with the EU.

I am not sure this cut any ice with Mr Hayashi who said they needed more than assurances and still felt remaining in the EU was the best solution even though they accepted the result of the referendum.

This does not surprise me. Trade deals with other countries won't necessarily help Japanese companies here. Why would Nissan build a factory in Sunderland to serve South America for example? And to say we will have a comprehensive deal with Europe is a bit rich since this is what we have now and we aren't in control of what will happen in the negotiations.

Haruki Hayashi, also the European regional CEO of Mitsubishi, hammered the point home. “More than general reassurances are called for at this stage to ensure the Japanese investment presence in 
the U.K. is not diminished for lack of consultation and information sharing.”

“Of course Japan will not sit at the negotiating table when the U.K. negotiates with the EU,” Koji Tsuruoka the Japanese ambassador told Mr Davis, “But we are friends, we are also a very major stakeholder, the Japanese economic presence in the U.K. is quite significant. Therefore this important presence will of course have an impact on how the negotiations should be conducted.”