Tokyo — The growing alarm after UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal suffered a defeat in parliament isn’t just unsettling for British politics. Global businesses are on edge as well. Asian companies, whose operations and investments stretch far into Britain and Europe, have a lot at stake as they face higher tariffs and costs. Tuesday’s setback will do little to cure the anxiety. Chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond has sought to assure business leaders that their no-deal nightmare scenario could still be avoided, but with only 10 weeks left before the UK is due to leave the EU, companies are bracing for a potential hard exit. “Japanese companies should have been making preparations for the possibility of a hard Brexit, but now the reality of carrying out those measures is getting closer,” Hiroaki Nakanishi, chair of the country’s largest business lobby Keidanren, told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday. Here’s what Asian companies are saying about Brexit: HondaHonda, the...
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