Brexit

[BansheeOne]

Quote

FRI OCT 23, 2020 / 6:47 AM EDT

Britain signs first major post-Brexit trade deal with Japan

Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kaori Kaneko

TOKYO (Reuters) - Britain and Japan formally signed a trade agreement on Friday, marking Britain's first big post-Brexit deal on trade, as it continues to struggle to agree on a deal with its closest trading partners in the European Union.

Britain formally left the EU in January and it has focused on negotiating new trade pacts with countries around the world as its status-quo transition period ends on Dec. 31.

[...] 

Britain has said the deal meant 99% of its exports to Japan would be tariff-free, and that it could increase trade by 15.2 billion pounds ($19.9 billion) in the long run, compared with 2018.

The deal removes Britain's tariffs on Japanese cars in stages to zero in 2026, which is the same as in the Japan-EU trade agreement.

Motegi said after the signing that he had agreed with Truss to work together so that the deal will come into force on Jan. 1, 2021.

He also said Japan welcomes Britain's interest in joining the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) free trade deal, and intends to provide necessary support.

Japan is already a member of the CPTPP, which also links Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

[...] 

https://ca.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN2780AM

[Stuart Galbraith]

Thank heavens for that. I might actually get the Tamiya 1-16 Leopard 1 off Amazon for less than a grand now.

Remove tariffs on Japanese cars. So that is going to kill the japanese car industry in the UK at a stroke. Sure that will go down well..

 

 

[JasonJ]

Harry Potter was on TV tonight. I told the wife that it being on tonight might not by random chance. She asked why. To which I said because it's a UK story and today the UK and Japan signed a trade agreement. She responds with why do you know that stuff, that's so creepy

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

[Ssnake]

1 hour ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Remove tariffs on Japanese cars. So that is going to kill the japanese car industry in the UK at a stroke. Sure that will go down well..

The harder-than-necessary-but-likely-to-happen Brexit will probably kill much of the British car plants anyway.

[Stuart Galbraith]

The asian ones certainly. They were only ever here to get into the EU, and its becoming increasingly clear we just arent going to abide by the agreements we made with Japan that we would get a trade deal. They settled in former industrial wastelands, which may leave a grave problem with long term unemployment if it happens. I think it will.

I think the high end companies like Jaguar or Aston Martin will be ok. Vauxhall is probably going to poke off, they are mainly a multinational now anyway. Its going to put German owned companies like Rolls Royce or Mini in an interesting position also. Motorcycle companies like Triumph, which are a major success in Asia and have been overlooked, and its unlikely to do them much harm.

The really interesting thing will be how this will effect companies that make agricultural equipment.  New Holland frequently gets overlooked, but seem to have wholly surplanted Massey Ferguson, which was a staple of British Farmyards when I was a kid.

[Leo Niehorster]

Sorry, but this just came back to me.

I do remember a convention for Massey Ferguson, where an overzealous employees had banners made reading

"Welcome MF'ers".

🤣

--

Leo

[Stuart Galbraith]

Yeah, that does sound like something they would do.

They took manufacturing out the country years ago, something in the 2000's IIRC. Strength of the pound ruining British business again.

[Stuart Galbraith]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/brexit/government-suffer-heavy-defeat-over-brexit-bill-that-breaks-international-law/ar-BB1adfY6

Peers have inflicted a heavy defeat against the Government’s controversial Brexit legislation that enables ministers to break international law.

The House of Lords backed by 395 votes to 169, majority 226, a “regret” amendment, condemning the disputed provisions in the UK Internal Market Bill.

Speaking in support of the amendment, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Fox said: “We all know this Bill is illegal and we know it flouts important constitutional issues and threatens devolution.

“More than that, we know it has already eroded trust in our institutions and we know it is damaging the reputation of this country, which promotes the rule of law.

“Finally, and perhaps most insidiously, we know that any law that seeks to permit the executive to break laws is morally wrong.”

The measure will likely be overturned when the Bill returns to the House of Commons.

[Stuart Galbraith]

https://news.sky.com/story/dominic-cummings-may-be-leaving-boris-johnsons-side-but-his-impact-on-uk-will-be-felt-for-many-years-to-come-12131542

When the UK fully leaves the European Union on 31 December - the shape of that trade deal or no deal to be decided in the coming days - the man who was so instrumental in making Brexit happen will have long gone.

Dominic Cummings, the prime minister's chief adviser, was the architect of the Vote Leave campaign that won the 2016 referendum and then returned to Downing Street in 2019 to drive through Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

 

It was Mr Cummings who masterminded the "Oven Ready Brexit" general election win that delivered the biggest Conservative majority since the Thatcher years.

But while Mr Cummings has played a vital role in this country's Brexit journey, his unparalleled power and brutal way of doing politics - (remember the expulsion of 21 Conservative MPs including former chancellors Sir Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond at the height of the Brexit wars?) - has over time corroded Mr Johnson's relationship with his party, with Whitehall and the media.

 

Mr Cummings badly damaged the prime minister's relationship with the public too after that mid-lockdown trip to Durham which resulted in national scandal and Mr Cummings becoming a household name, for all the wrong reasons.

The prime minister expended a huge amount of political capital saving an adviser that many of his own MPs and members of the public believed should go.

[Ssnake]

How's that "news", that he "may" be leaving?

Wake me after he actually left.

[Stuart Galbraith]

No, he HAS actually left number 10.

Yes, he is still on the books, but he is going to be working from home. Its not going to be particularly easy to reinforce cliques, or power groups or attempts to bully people when you are working down the end of a Skype connection.

All this is interesting timing, straight after the Biden win. The Government is denying it will result in any change, which of course usually means the exact opposite.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/11/13/boris-johnson-dominic-cummings-carrie-symonds-brexit-latest/

[rmgill]

On 10/23/2020 at 8:30 AM, BansheeOne said:

https://ca.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN2780AM

Hey Banshee, remember when we were told this was impossible to do without an EU to control the negotiations? 

[BansheeOne]

No, though what was stated frequently is that the UK couldn't negotiate its own deals as long as it was an EU member. As it is, they pulled this one off surprisingly fast after leaving, by building on the existing EU-Japan agreement but exceeding it in some points. The Brit contingent will know better, but AIUI the government was under considerable domestic pressure to deliver, and for some reason the export of blue cheese had become a poster issue; so much that the talks both of the EU and UK with Japan stalled over it at some point, because the latter wanted to export more cars in return.

The Brits eventually agreed to that particular deal, probably to show that they could do what the EU couldn't for British cheese makers. Whether unhindered import to Japan for British blue cheese vs. unhindered import to the UK for Japanese cars is a good deal remains to be seen of course.

[Stargrunt6]

On 10/23/2020 at 8:39 AM, JasonJ said:

Harry Potter was on TV tonight. I told the wife that it being on tonight might not by random chance. She asked why. To which I said because it's a UK story and today the UK and Japan signed a trade agreement. She responds with why do you know that stuff, that's so creepy

 

Sunday, my local jazz station played this song:

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Time for one last number Chaps?

 

[Nobu]

4 hours ago, BansheeOne said:

The Brits eventually agreed to that particular deal, probably to show that they could do what the EU couldn't for British cheese makers. Whether unhindered import to Japan for British blue cheese vs. unhindered import to the UK for Japanese cars is a good deal remains to be seen of course.

I am pleased with that trade, and with the ability of Japan to strike a deal when the other party may be desperate for one, so to speak.

What Toyota Motor and friends want to do to Ford in the UK (currently No. 1 in terms of auto market share there) is what they have done to it in the US. You can run...

The British cheesemaking industry can certainly be accommodated, although it should be noted that Japanese consumers are not particularly price sensitive when it comes to quality. 

[RETAC21]

13 minutes ago, Nobu said:

I am pleased with that trade, and with the ability of Japan to strike a deal when the other party may be desperate for one, so to speak.

What Toyota Motor and friends want to do to Ford in the UK (currently No. 1 in terms of auto market share there) is what they have done to it in the US. You can run...

The British cheesemaking industry can certainly be accommodated, although it should be noted that Japanese consumers are not particularly price sensitive when it comes to quality. 

I would say Ford can only blame itself

[Stuart Galbraith]

Ford in the UK have already largely bailed to Europe. The British car industry increasingly means to the high value end, so I think the impact of Japanese cars being imported is likely to be no different from all the Ford ones we get from the continent.

Just bring down the price of RC models, ok? The cost from Japan is perfectly murderous.

Edited November 14, 2020 by Stuart Galbraith

[rmgill]

Honda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Subaru, Nissan, VW all build in the US. 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Yes because of the size of the US market. Sans Euope, the UK has a market for 64 million people. And it's already well catered for.

With the high price of the pound and a small market, it makes more sense to import cars than manufacture here. Why do you think Ford moved all manufacturing to Europe? And Fords Dagenham plant was once the largest in Europe. Even their transit van plant in Southampton has gone.

 

Our high end production will survive. The low end, perhaps even mini, probably wont.

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Stuart Galbraith

[DB]

11 hours ago, BansheeOne said:

No, though what was stated frequently is that the UK couldn't negotiate its own deals as long as it was an EU member. As it is, they pulled this one off surprisingly fast after leaving, by building on the existing EU-Japan agreement but exceeding it in some points. The Brit contingent will know better, but AIUI the government was under considerable domestic pressure to deliver, and for some reason the export of blue cheese had become a poster issue; so much that the talks both of the EU and UK with Japan stalled over it at some point, because the latter wanted to export more cars in return.

The Brits eventually agreed to that particular deal, probably to show that they could do what the EU couldn't for British cheese makers. Whether unhindered import to Japan for British blue cheese vs. unhindered import to the UK for Japanese cars is a good deal remains to be seen of course.

We know very little about it because our media is rather more concerned about which moron gets into the White House than it is about domestic concerns.

As for the details - if we buy cars as imports, then we don't care if the cash goes to Germany or to Japan. it's leaving the UK regardless. If we have a trade deal with Japan and not the EU, then I suppose we'll see more Lexus on the roads and fewer Mercedes. The reliability will improve, of course.

[rmgill]

7 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Yes because of the size of the US market. Sans Euope, the UK has a market for 64 million people. And it's already well catered for.
 

You make your market and manufacturing environment such that it's appealing for factories to be there. That's how you do it. But it requires that you have the infrastructure, reasonble taxes and reasonable accommodation for the factory operations. 

This is why the US has the following plants, many of them in the south. Because the southern states have made the business environment appealing to locate there, build entirely new plants and be able to ship them all over the continent. 

http://images.csmonitor.com/csmarchives/2008/12/AOTHERAUTO_G1_L.gif?alias=standard_600x400


Looks like you have a Honda Plant in Swindon.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Honda+Of+The+UK+Manufacturing+Ltd/@51.5898453,-1.7414764,1779m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!1m2!2m1!1shonda+uk+swindon!3m4!1s0x4871460e920b4edb:0x546f39d3cd2290d5!8m2!3d51.5935059!4d-1.7409749


You need more of these 
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.9162693,-85.1320793,2397m/data=!3m1!1e3

[Stuart Galbraith]

Ryan, the Honda Plant in Swindon is closing. It was closing even before we formalized the Brexit deal.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/honda-swindon-manufacturing-plant-closure-jobs-employees-latest-a8911766.html

Its not just Americans that have perfected the Art of Industrial decay. Its really quite simple, British banks have a choice, do they invest in Britain, or do they put their money into China and make two or three times as much.

Its not a hard decision to make is it?

[rmgill]

Looks like you need some good old British Nationalism. 

MBGA...