Since Brexit, the UK government has struggled to replicate the trade agreements it once reached with dozens of countries around the world as EU members.
Talks with Japan, Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner outside the European Union, are now in trouble as the UK government tries to get better terms than Tokyo agreed with the European Union just two years ago.
UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss is racing to make a deal before the UK loses access to the Japan agreement previously negotiated by Brussels when the transition period to Brexit expires at the end of this year.
But Truss wants a better deal for UK food producers, according to the Financial Times, which reports that agricultural tariffs have become a sticking point in negotiations. Truss has a “particular focus” on blue cheese like Stilton, the newspaper said.
Stilton Blue is an English cheese that can only be produced in three areas of the country and enjoys protected food name status under EU rules of origin – in the same way that sparkling wine can only be called champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of France.
Britain’s blue cheese exports in 2019 amounted to a modest £ 18.3 million ($ 24 million), of which £ 102,000 ($ 133,000) went to Japan, according to the Board of Agriculture and Horticulture Development.
The Department of International Trade declined to comment on the reports, but said it aimed to reach a formal agreement with Japan by the end of August – less than three months since the talks began.
“We have reached consensus on the key elements of a deal – including ambitious provisions in areas such as digital, data and financial services that go significantly beyond the EU-Japan deal,” Truss said in a statement.
Japan and the United Kingdom will also agree to eliminate tariffs on Japanese cars by 2026, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. Officials in Tokyo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Truss tries to replace the enormous deal signed in 2018 between the European Union and Japan, which eliminated tariffs on European exports, such as cheese and wine, and reduced barriers to Japanese car imports.
It was rumored at the time that EU companies would save up to € 1 billion ($ 1.2 billion) in rates per year.
The total value of trade between the UK and Japan in 2018 was just over £ 29 billion ($ 38 billion), making Britain the 11th largest trading partner that year. The United States, China and Switzerland are the only non-EU countries in the top 10, according to figures from the Trade Department.
A bilateral trade agreement with Japan could increase UK GDP in the long run by about 0.07%, according to the Department of Commerce, compared to an estimated 5% reduction in economic growth as a result of Brexit.
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