Japan would welcome Britain “with open arms” into a Trans-Pacific trade pact, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Financial Times on Sunday.
Abe, one of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s closest international allies, also said he hoped both sides in Britain’s deadlocked Brexit negotiations with the EU would be able to reach a compromise to avoid a disorderly Brexit.
British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox in July said he would consult the public about a possible bid to join the Pacific trade group that includes Canada, Australia and Mexico, once Britain leaves the EU.
May’s government has touted the freedom to strike new trade deals outside the EU as one of the main economic benefits of Brexit, but its ability to do so could yet depend on the outcome of negotiations in Brussels.
Both sides are hoping to agree a deal by next month, but the stalled negotiations have left some investors worried that Britain could end up leaving the bloc without a deal.
“I hope that both sides can contribute their wisdom and at least avoid a so-called disorderly Brexit,” Abe told the newspaper.
In related news, Bank of England (BOE) chief economist Andy Haldane is to get the tricky job of working out how to address Britain’s productivity puzzle.
British Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark was yesterday to name Haldane as chair of the new industrial strategy council, a body charged with overseeing delivery of the UK’s flagship economic policy, the Financial Times reported.
Britain’s stagnant productivity has choked economic growth for years. Poor productivity means the economy can no longer expand as quickly as it did in the past without fueling inflation.
BOE Governor Mark Carney was quoted in the newspaper as saying that understanding productivity is a key ingredient in how the Monetary Policy Committee sets targets for GDP growth and inflation.
“Andy’s new role will help both to deepen that understanding and, consistent with our remit, to support the government’s objectives for growth and employment,” he said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
RSS