PM seeks EU-style trade deal with Japan

BRITAIN is seeking a smooth Brexit for business, Theresa May reassured her Japanese hosts.

She said Britain wants to avoid a “cliff edge” of sudden and disruptive change for businesses when it leaves the EU.

She is also pressing for the completion of an EU-Japan trade deal, which she says will be used as a model for the UK’s deal.

Mrs May said: “There are a number of trade deals the EU has with other countries and we are looking at the possibility of these being able to be brought over, certainly initially, into trade deals with the UK.”

She stressed the continuity of post-Brexit trade as Japanese companies including Nissan, Toyota and SoftBank had already announced significant investments in the UK since last year’s referendum vote.

Mrs May has travelled to Japan with 15 leading British business leaders, seeking to develop trade links.

As she flew into Japan, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the visit was a “golden opportunity” for Britain and his country to show their close partnership and how their two nations could together make a difference to the world.

Tomohiko Taniguchi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Britain has always cut a special niche for Japan, there is an inherent preference among Japanese people, for Japanese industrialists, for doing business wherever possible in the UK.”

Mrs May welcomed James Bond car maker Aston Martin’s plans for £500million of trade with Japan. She said it would help to safeguard jobs in the West Midlands and South Wales.