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."

Comments

Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[QuietLagoon]

... invoke Article 50 first, leave, and then we will talk about special trade deals. You voted to leave, so leave already.

Re:Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[Baloroth]

I don't follow European news, but I doubt that very much. The UK is ~14% of the total GDP of the EU (second largest in the EU): it dropping out without replacing the existing trade deals would be a massive economic blow to the EU. The EU may want to punish the UK for leaving, but I doubt they'd do it at the risk of collapsing the EU economy.

Re:Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[Anonymous Coward]

The EU are saying "you voted leave, and this period if instability is good for no one, including the rest of the EU".

Not a bad point, on the whole. I mean, it's almost like we went into a referendum to leave the EU without having any idea about what this means, or any plans to achieve it.

Re: Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[thegarbz]

Congratulations you just described trade barriers. But the interesting part is a that when two major economies who trade with each other each impose tarrifs the net gain is normally zero unless there's a massive imbalance in the trade conditions. This is why for instance trade barriers make sense between Australia and China, but not Australia and New Zealand, as the abolishion of barriers in the later doesn't result in work offshoring.

Speaking of offshoring 1/3rd of cars sold in the UK last year were German. But no where near 1/3rd of them were made in Germany. BMW, Mercedes etc have factories in the UK to serve the UK market. The effect won't be anywhere near as dramatic as all of the anti-Brexit propaganda is making out, and I say this as someone who's dead set against this idiotic idea of a Brexit.

Re:Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[Cederic]

Q1 - Is the British Government sovereign in any and all decisions about how to run the country while in the EU.

Q2 - Can the UK sustain net immigration each year of 300,000 people, and can this be avoided while staying in the EU?

Any more questions, because those are the only two that fucking matter.

Re:Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[Dishevel]

Is it even possible that some voted to leave because they thought that their country should be run by its own government and not by the EU?
Every single one of those people are just "morons"? There is no reason at all to want your country run by your laws and nothing else?

Re: Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[Cederic]

What would be the point of the former if each party could choose the later? Seriously, the point is to reach a consensus, not get what YOU want.

erm. Actually yes, the point of negotiation is to get what you want.

The negotiation is to find common ground so that all parties can get what they want, and everybody's happy. At no point does this presuppose that all parties must agree at the end.

Haven't you heard the term, "Negotiations broke down..." ?

Tell you what, I'll buy your car for $4. Lets negotiate - you can probably bargain me as high as $7, but I wont go beyond that.

Accepting this negotiation outcome? Or walking away? Oh look, reality just intervened.

Re:Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[kellymcdonald78]

I don't think there is anything in wanting this, however to think that it can be achieved without consequence is foolish. The UK in its current form is tightly integrated into the EU and the health of its economy is dependent on trade. The pro-Brexit champions were just as aware of this as anyone.

Re:Meanwhile the EU is saying...

[dunkelfalke]

UK has been behaving like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum every time things didn't go their way. Unfortunately the rest of the union has been way too soft to the brits instead of telling them a well-deserved "fuck you".

Leaving the EU was a huge mistake.

[Anonymous Coward]

Leaving the EU was a huge mistake. The old, who voted for it out of xenophobia, will be dead by the time we will feel the consequences.

Re:Leaving the EU was a huge mistake.

[mccalli]

I keep reading this 'the old' stuff. Are people aware that these same 'old' will be the people who voted into it in the 1970s? And will, in fact, be the only people who have seen the evolution of the whole situation?

Re:Leaving the EU was a huge mistake.

[GLMDesigns]

So, being part of a huge bureaucracy managed from afar is a good thing? You must be one of those who loves the idea of Imperial Washington as well?

Everything should be decided by bureaucrats because people don't know better.

We bureaucrats in Brussels think that too much cinamon is bad for you. Therefore you Christmas snackies must be outlawed.

We (the all-wise, all-knowing bureaucrats) also know that consumption of raw milk products is dangerous therefore you (french, italian, spanish, communities that have been making raw milk cheeses are now declared to be WRONG and OLD FASHIONED. And any production of such products will now be ILLEGAL. Because, we, the all-knowing, all-wonderful bureaucrats know how best for you to live your lives.

Anybody who doesn't want to live under our enlightened rule are [fill in the blank].

Re:Leaving the EU was a huge mistake.

[Mashiki]

Leaving the EU was a huge mistake. The old, who voted for it out of xenophobia, will be dead by the time we will feel the consequences.

Yes, because having unelected bureaucrats deciding what's best for your country and waiving sovereign rights to them is an even better idea! The entire state of the EU at this point is anti-democratic. Then again, I suppose if the "remain" camp especially all those entitled whiny millennials really wanted to remain, they would have gotten up off their asses and actually voted. But they didn't, which is why they had the lowest turnout.

Re:Leaving the EU was a huge mistake.

[Bromrrrrr]

We (the all-wise, all-knowing bureaucrats) also know that consumption of raw milk products is dangerous therefore you (french, italian, spanish, communities that have been making raw milk cheeses are now declared to be WRONG and OLD FASHIONED. And any production of such products will now be ILLEGAL.................

Of course the fact that no such prohibition exists probably won't stop you from repeating it, will it?

There are some rules with regards raw milk cheese mainly that it has to be produced in a clean environment and it has to be labeled as being produced with raw milk. All of which seems pretty sensible to me.

But don't let me get in the way of a nice rant, try using more caps.

Re:Welcome to the Hotel EuroUnion...

[Zandamesh]

If you leave, you're on your own, what else do you expect? Throw away 40 years of trade agreements and expect everything to stay the same? Take note tough, the EU currently isn't doing anything. 2 years after article 50 has been invoked and UK officially exits, THEN they'll make an example out the UK, and every time someone tries to blame the EU, someone else will point out that UK choose Brexit themselves and can't hold someone else responsible for the shit they're in.

Re:Welcome to the Hotel EuroUnion...

[gaiageek]

Angela Merkel, arguably the most powerful of the EU leaders, said there's no need to be nasty to the UK in response to Brexit (i.e. punish them, as you're suggesting). The reality is that the UK will be punishing itself, because it's leaving the club (the EU) and losing the benefits, including free trade with the rest of the EU. This fact alone is enough for any company which had its EU headquarters in the UK to realize they probably need to move to the continent. That's a lot of jobs leaving the country.

Re:Such Brutal Much Scare

[Barsteward]

now there is someone with very short term thinking..... prime example of a leaver who cannot think further than a newspaper headline