The View | Mixed pre-Brexit messaging with Japan and China has muddled the UK’s post-Brexit future

Trade with major partners like Tokyo and Beijing was a major selling point for Brexit, but a series of faux pas has officials scrambling to undo the damage before the EU departure date

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UK Prime Minister Theresa May speaks while Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe listens during their joint news conference in London on January 10. Britain’s attempts at negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal with Japan hit a roadblock when Tokyo expressed frustration with UK officials’ negotiation tactics. Photo: Pool via Bloomberg

Published: 7:03pm, 27 Feb 2019Updated: 10:32pm, 27 Feb 2019

UK Business Secretary Greg Clark is preparing a previously unscheduled visit to Japan to lobby Honda not to close a major factory in Swindon. Clark’s unexpected trip comes as London has angered both Tokyo and Beijing, complicating the current UK priority of negotiating new post-Brexit trade relationships in Asia and beyond.

Take the example of UK-Japan relations. There are signs that the very close economic relationship that Tokyo and London have enjoyed for several decades is fraying with Brexit.

Honda’s announcement last week that it will close its plant in Swindon by 2021 – a key reason for Clark’s visit to Japan – is only the latest example. More broadly, Tokyo has reportedly been angered by the “high-handed” approach of UK counterparts, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, in talks to secure a new post-Brexit trade deal.

Fox and Hunt’s desire to secure a speedy agreement with Japan has backfired, prompting Japan to consider postponing last week’s round of talks. And this comes after Tokyo decided against replicating the terms of its recent agreement with the European Union in a post-Brexit UK trade treaty.

Tokyo instead reportedly seeks a tougher stance amid the alarm of many Japanese firms, who employ some 140,000 UK-based employees, over a possible no-deal Brexit. Moreover, Fox has confirmed that, owing to complications in the talks, a new post-Brexit trade deal with Japan will not be ready before March 29, when London is expected to leave the EU.

The diplomatic damage, however, with China could be even more significant, at least in the short term. A trip last week by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond to Beijing was cancelled after Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson asserted that London could deploy an aircraft carrier in the Pacific for its first operational cruise in 2021. Such a move would be sensitive for Beijing, in part because it is involved in disputes with neighbouring countries over territorial claims in the South China Sea.