Amidst the row going on inside the Tory party at the moment about the customs union and the single market, I did wonder how Nissan view it, considering they were given assurances last year by Greg Clark that we would have "frictionless" trade with the EU after Brexit. They cannot view tariffs or non tariff barriers with equanimity. Well, we are about to find out. The PM is to meet a whole delegation of serious Japanese investors (HERE) including Nissan, Honda and Toyota as well as pharmaceutical and financial businesses.
They all came here originally in the belief we would always be members of the EU. Brexit was presumably bad enough, but exiting the single market and the customs union is a serious impediment to trade.
I don't think mantras and waffle will be on the lunch menu. They are to demand clarity (good luck to them with that one!) and it would therefore be a surprise to me if they will accept fudge and platitudes either.
Of course, we made a democratic decision but no doubt they will say that's fine, now we are going to make our democratic decisions - and move plants to the EU.
Ironically, this is all taking place on the same day the Cabinet Brexit committee meets for the second time this week (and only the third or fourth time ever I believe) to try and decide our negotiating position. The Japanese must be bemused by the way we take decisions in Britain. They consider all the options, carefully prepare a plan and implement it over a period of decades. We toss a coin at the last minute and cross our fingers.
