UK/Japan trade talks stall... because of Stilton?

As you're probably incredibly bored of hearing by now, Britain is leaving the EU very soon. Because of that, a lot of new trade deals have to be struck and, as you might expect, a lot of that centres around food imports and exports. There had been very promising talks of a post-Brexit trade deal with Japan recently, but those negotiations broke down because of the UK's Trade Secretary Liz Truss trying to insert a very strange demand into the agreement. Specifically, the demand involved Stilton cheese.

No. You didn't read that wrong. Stilton cheese. Really. An entire trade agreement between two countries who have historically got on very well with each other, to the point where Britain has the nicest embassy in the nicest spot in Tokyo right next to the grounds of the imperial palace (I bet you didn't know that until just now!), has absolutely stalled because Liz Truss has a thing about Stilton cheese. I genuinely swear that I'm not making this up.

Why would the UK Trade Secretary be placing such a big emphasis on blue cheese? Well, it turns out Ms Truss has been a big advocate for the British cheese industry for some time now. She is so passionate about British cheese to the point where she achieved infamy on social media for an impassioned speech during the Conservative Party Conference in 2014 where she claimed it was "a disgrace" that Britain imported two-thirds of its cheese at the time. She also remarked in the same conference speech that Britain was "producing more grain than the Canadian prairies" and "selling tea to China" before pausing to add "Yorkshire Tea" to thunderous applause. Yes, it is as meme-worthy as you think it is!

In particular, she seems to see a real gap in the market for blue cheese in Asian markets, specifically Japan. Whilst Britain sold around £18 million worth of blue cheese worldwide last year according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, only £102,000 of that £18 million was from Japan. Is there a real gap in the market for British-made Stilton, or do the Japanese just not like British Stilton very much? Does Ms Truss just really, really like cheese? It's hard to tell.

It's also not the first time cheese has been a negotiating factor in a trade deal with Japan. Last year the EU and Japan negotiated a "cars for cheese" deal where the EU promised to reduce tariffs on cars imported from Japan in return for Japan reducing tariffs on cheese imported from Europe. Whilst that's somewhat of an oversimplification, it's not that dissimilar to what the UK is trying to do with Japan right now in preparation for a post-Brexit world. Whilst Japan has previously said that there is no way that Japan could cut a better deal with the UK than the one it already has with the EU, the UK are going to give it a damn good try and Ms Truss really, really wants her cheese deal!

Personally, I think all this talk about cheese is making me think way too much about proper cheese, which I can't have anymore as I'm very much dairy intolerant. Now I'm sad. Thanks, Liz Truss.