KYOTO, Japan (Reuters) — British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe boarded a Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’ from Kyoto to the capital Tokyo on Wednesday (August 30), during May’s visit to the country for trade talks.
On Wednesday, May said that Britain is looking at ways to replicate the trade deals that the European Union has with countries outside the bloc when it exits the EU in March 2019.
The freedom to strike new trade deals independently of the EU has been highlighted by the government as a benefit of Brexit. But businesses have voiced concern about how existing trade relationships will work after Britain has left the bloc.
Speaking on a business trip to Japan designed to reassure investors that the British economy will flourish after Brexit, May indicated that the first step in recasting Britain as a world leader in free trade would be to copy EU trade agreements.
During a two-hour train ride between Kyoto and Tokyo late on Wednesday the two leaders discussed Brexit, with May talking Abe through the details of a series of papers published in recent weeks setting out her negotiating position.
May also told Abe that Britain was pushing for the completion of an EU-Japan trade deal, which could then be used as a model for a future British-Japanese trading agreement.
Formal trade discussions are scheduled for Thursday, after which both leaders will speak publicly at a news conference.
