wotsupcas wrote:
Don't know why that would be funny. Population of Japan is over 125 million. So only a 100 million market to aim for.
It's not really a new 100 million market to aim at though is it?
The Japanese full (WTO) duty rate on imports of cheese made from cows milk is 25%. The result of Liz's trade deal means imports of cheese from cows milk into Japan of UK origin will attract a duty rate of 14.6%.
What duty rate do imports of cheese made from cows milk of EU origin attract in Japan? That's right exactly the same 14.6%. So it's not a brexit benefit at all. It's actually what we enjoyed when members of the EU and that was trumpeted as a highlight of the deal.
What the government announce before the deals have been signed and ratified by the WTO aren't always what we end up with but the claim this deal went "far beyond what the EU had achieved in negotiations" was just a straight up lie. The Japanese announced at exactly the same time that this deal just represented a continuation of the EU deal.
Still at the rate our economy is going we might be enjoying the 0% duty rate of a least developed country before too long.