“Even now the situation is becoming more difficult for us getting Japanese staff into the UK and our fear is that it will not become easier during the transition period,” said a senior executive at one of Japan’s largest trading houses.
“The Japanese companies in the UK are experiencing a huge issue around people. Japanese expats are not getting in and the companies are tearing their hair out,” said Pernille Rudlin, the head of Japan Intercultural Consulting, a training and consulting firm based in the UK.
“Japanese companies want to bring in highly skilled people — design engineers and other positions that they not only need in the UK but need to have moving around the EU,” she added, referring to recent figures that showed Britain turned down more than 6,000 so-called tier 2 skilled workers visa applications between December 2017 and March 2018 — a key period of the year for Japanese companies bringing specialists into the UK. [...]
“The UK’s position is that it wants a copy and paste [of the Japan-EU deal], but that is not where we are. We want something better,” said one Japanese official involved in preparations.
“There is a feeling within the ministries that although the [Japan-EU] Economic Partnership Agreement as a whole is good, there are areas where Japan could have done much better in its negotiations, and these will probably be areas where we press harder with the UK.”
Japan would prefer UK to stay in customs union
Officials in Tokyo emphasised that all of their planning is hypothetical since it is not clear whether the UK will pursue an independent trade policy or stay in a customs union with the EU. Japan, a big investor in the UK, would strongly prefer a customs union.
“There is still no clarity from the UK. Japanese industry is becoming increasingly frustrated and concerned,” said a second official from a different ministry.
The framework for a future deal with the UK is another open question. One constituency within the Japanese government is keen for the UK to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing it would increase pressure on Washington to return to the eleven-member trade deal. Donald Trump quit the TPP in one of his first acts as US president.
Important agricultural constituencies in Japan, such as the dairy sector, think Tokyo gave too much away to the EU. Industrial players such as the automotive industry will use trade talks to seek deeper market access in the UK.
Tokyo will not seek concessions during transition
The UK is likely to have its own requests, potentially seeking greater access for financial services exports to Japan. [...]
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