Britain’s open to foreign investment, trade minister Fox tells China

Beijing (Reuters): British trade minister Liam Fox said on Wednesday that London would continue to welcome foreign investment, after a US panel rejected a Chinese acquisition of a US money transfer company on national security concerns.

Fox was on a visit to China, the latest instalment in long-running economic talks between China and Britain, which has taken on new importance for Britain as it looks to re-invent itself as a global trading nation after leaving the European Union in 2019.

The US rejection of China’s Ant Financial’s acquisition of MoneyGram International Inc is the most high-profile Chinese deal to be torpedoed under the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Asked whether Britain would serve as an alternative destination for such Chinese investment, Fox told Reuters in an interview that he hoped the investment relationship would “work in two directions”, but that Britain would remain open.

“Of course, we would look, as other countries would do, at our security issues in terms of investment. But the UK has traditionally been an open country, welcoming of foreign direct investment. And we’ll continue to do that,” Fox said. He did not comment specifically on the US panel decision.

China is one of the countries with which Britain hopes to sign a free trade pact once it leaves the EU, and London and Beijing have been keen to show that Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc will not affect ties.

Fox said that the issue of China’s service sector openness was a “big issue” for Britain, but that there were more options than a post-Brexit free trade agreement (FTA) to get Beijing to open, including specific service sector agreements and mutual recognition deals.

“There are a whole range of tools in the box. And people tend to talk as though an FTA is the only tool we have available in terms of trade liberalisation. It’s not,” he said.

The focus on a ‘Golden Era’ of relations, trumpeted by China and Britain in 2015 when then-prime minister David Cameron hosted a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, has cooled under Cameron’s successor, Theresa May.

In 2016, May caused a diplomatic spat by unexpectedly deciding to delay approval of a partly-Chinese funded nuclear power project. She later granted it, but not before drawing criticism from Beijing.

May is expected to visit China later this month accompanied by a business delegation, diplomatic and business sources have told Reuters, though the trip has not been formally confirmed.

Britain interested in joining Trans-Pacific trade deal after Brexit

LONDON (Reuters): Britain is interested in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc after it leaves the European Union, the Financial Times newspaper said.

The FT said that Britain had started informal talks about joining the bloc in a bid to boost post-Brexit exports. Although the United States pulled out of the talks to form the bloc nearly a year ago, other TPP countries have pledged to move forward with plans for a trade group.

The TPP has so far involved only countries around the Pacific Rim such as Japan, Canada and Mexico. However, junior trade minister Greg Hands said there was no geographical restriction that would prevent Britain’s participation.

“Nothing is excluded in all of this,” he told the Financial Times. “With these kinds of plurilateral relationships, there doesn’t have to be any geographical restriction.”

EU rules state that Britain cannot agree new trade deals before it leaves the bloc in March 2019. The newspaper quoted an official from a TPP country as saying it was “way too soon” to discuss UK accession before a Brexit deal.