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Japan Goes Public With Brexit Demands, Says Data Flow Deals Must Be Protected (arstechnica.com)
Kelly Fiveash, writing for ArsTechnica:UK Prime minister Theresa May said at the weekend that she wanted to take her time to secure the best trade deals for a post-Brexit Britain, and reiterated -- in her trademark vague terms -- that the so-called Article 50 won't be triggered this year. But political pressure from governments as far away as Japan continues to mount. On Sunday, in a bold move, the Japanese government published a 15-page memo setting out a number of demands it wants the UK to adhere to, once it leaves the European Union. It underscored that Britain faces a torrid time of negotiations -- not just with member states in the EU, but further afield, too. Japan, which has close economic ties with the UK, listed its demands based on requests from businesses in the country. It said; "It is of great importance that the UK and the EU maintain market integrity and remain attractive destinations for businesses where free trade, unfettered investment, and smooth financial transactions are ensured." It's brutal stuff from Japan, and could well lead to other countries making similarly robust demands. On tech specifically, the Japanese government called on the UK and EU, post-Brexit, to maintain cloud agreements between businesses at an international level, by safeguarding the "free transfer of data."
Yeah, the EU is more in trouble from this than the UK is. Countries are already pulling away from the EU and aiming to sign deals with the UK instead, so the UK acts as a middleman between the EU and the rest of the world, to get around any EU Bureaucracy bullshot.
Half of Japan's investments into EU have gone into Britain, seeing as a gateway to the EU. Now they are scared shitless that they have bet on the wrong horse. EU tariffs on cars and other products produced in GB means all those factories were built on the wrong side of the channel.
Well to be fair to the Japanese, they invested in the UK based on it's reputation for political stability. How were they supposed to know that 30 years down the line the UK would be ruled by a league of demagogues with a compulsive foot-shooting complex and the foresight and planning ability of an amoeba?