Uber’s top rival in India has some unsolicited advice for the U.S. startup: Go local.

“They have a very cookie-cutter approach in terms of what the model is and how [to] force feed it into any geography,” Pranay Jivrajka, a top executive at Ola Cabs, said on the sidelines of CNN’s Asia Business Forum in Bangalore.

Jivrajka, who until recently served as Ola’s COO, said that Uber should ditch its one-size-fits-all approach and instead try to understand “local nuances” that would help it to identify services that “users and drivers actually want.”

Uber declined to comment on Jivrajka’s remarks.

Uber and Ola have for years waged a bitter battle for supremacy in India, a market with 1.3 billion potential customers. The country has taken on increased significance for Uber after a series of recent setbacks elsewhere in Asia.

The San Francisco-based company suspended its operations in Taiwan last week, six months after it sold its operations in China to local rival Didi Chuxing. Didi, which is taking the fight to Uber in key foreign markets, is one of Ola’s investors.

In India, Uber has often found itself playing catch-up with its Bangalore-based rival. Its most recent local product offering — allowing Indian users to book a car for an entire day — is already offered by Ola in 85 cities.

Ola also lets users book one of India’s ubiquitous three-wheeled auto rickshaws, a service Uber started but then discontinued in 2015.

“What has helped us is having an ear to the ground in terms of understanding what the users want,” said Jivrajka.

Related: Uber’s rivals are teaming up in Asia

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick insists that his company is not prepared to leave India.

“We are losing, but we see a path towards profitability,” Kalanick said during a December visit to Delhi. “We see ourselves being here in the long run.”

Related: Uber suspends its service in Taiwan as fines mount

India isn’t always a straightforward market for either company — tens of thousands of drivers representing both Uber and Ola went on strike in Delhi this week, demanding better pay and benefits. The Delhi government has offered to mediate the dispute.

Jivrajka did not comment on the protests, but said that Ola’s main focus remains bringing more drivers onto its platform.

“We need more drivers because the pace at which demand is increasing is way higher than the way supply is getting aggregated,” he said.

Related: Uber CEO drops out of Trump’s business advisory council

Jivrajka also had some advice for another Silicon Valley giant hoping to enter India: electric automaker Tesla.

“There are no rules on the Indian roads,” Jivrajka said. “One thing a lot of people say is that if you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere.”

— Manveena Suri contributed reporting

CNNMoney (Bangalore, India) First published February 13, 2017: 8:48 AM ET

The trade war between China and the United States is intensifying, but Beijing has just taken one potential weapon off the table.

Premier Li Keqiang told an audience of global executives and policymakers that China would not weaken the yuan to boost trade with the rest of the world.

“China will never go down the path of stimulating exports by devaluing its currency,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday.

His comments came a day after the United States and China announced that they would impose their biggest rounds of tariffs yet on each other’s exports, starting next week.

That brings the value of goods hit by tariffs in the escalating conflict to more than $360 billion. President Donald Trump has threatened to hit another $267 billion of Chinese goods with tariffs.

China, which buys far less from the United States than the other way round, is starting to run low on American products to target, raising speculation about what other measures it could take to hit back.

Driving down the currency, which is also known as the renminbi, isn’t one of them, according to Li.

“Persistent depreciation of the renminbi will only do more harm than good to our country,” he said during a speech at a World Economic Forum event in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

The yuan has dropped sharply against the dollar as the trade fight has ramped up, losing about 9% of its value since April.

The decline has drawn the attention of President Trump, who has often accused China of devaluing the yuan to boost its huge export industry. Trump claimed in July that China was “manipulating” its currency lower.

Li dismissed that idea on Wednesday.

“The recent fluctuations in the renminbi exchange rate have been seen by some as an intentional measure on the part of China,” he said. “This is simply not true.”

The Chinese government plays a significant role in setting the value of the yuan and how it trades. Economists generally agree Beijing kept the currency artificially low in the past, but they are skeptical that government intervention has driven it down against the dollar and other major currencies this year.

They say the escalating trade war with the United States and concerns over a slowdown in the Chinese economy have helped push the yuan lower at a time when the US Federal Reserve is steadily raising interest rates. That policy makes it more attractive for investors to hold assets in US dollars, prompting them to sell other currencies.

Sudden drops in the yuan in 2015 and early 2016 set off turmoil in global markets as money poured out of China’s economy. Beijing spent hundreds of billions of dollars propping it up.

China will “work to create conditions for keeping the value of the yuan stable,” Li said Wednesday.

His words weren’t enough to convince everyone, though.

“Manipulation has occurred and is occurring, and I hope that action is taken,” Todd Rokita, a Trump-supporting congressman from Indiana, told CNN at the Tianjin conference just minutes after Li’s speech.

CNNMoney (Tianjin, China) First published September 19, 2018: 3:26 AM ET

It’s a good day for OPEC.

Data published Monday by the oil cartel show its members have largely complied with an agreement to slash production.

The confirmation caps a remarkable year for OPEC, which was forced to devise a plan to boost prices after they fell to $26 per barrel in February 2016.

The price collapse — to levels not seen since 2003 — was caused by months of growing oversupply, slowing demand from China and a decision by Western powers to lift Iran’s nuclear sanctions.

Since then, the market has mounted a stunning turnaround, with crude prices doubling to trade at $53.50 per barrel.

Here’s how major oil producers worked together to push prices higher:

OPEC agreed major production cuts in November, hoping to tame the global oil oversupply and support prices.

The news of the deal immediately boosted prices by 9%.

Investors cheered even more after several non-OPEC producers, including Russia, Mexico and Kazakhstan, joined the effort to restrain supply.

Crucially, the deal has stuck. The OPEC report published Monday showed that its members have — for the most part — fulfilled their pledges to slash production. The International Energy Agency agrees: It estimated OPEC compliance for January at 90%.

UAE energy minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told CNNMoney on Monday that the results were even better than he had expected.

The production cuts total 1.8 million barrels per day and are scheduled to run for six months.

Related: OPEC has pulled off one of its ‘deepest’ production cuts

The OPEC deal took months to negotiate, and investors really, really like it. The number of hedge funds and other institutional investors that are betting on higher prices hit a record in January, according to OPEC.

The widespread optimism is helping to fuel price increases.

The latest data from OPEC and the IEA show that global demand for oil was higher than expected in 2016, thanks to stronger economic growth, higher vehicle sales and colder than expected weather in the final quarter of the year.

Demand is set to grow further in 2017 to an average of 95.8 million barrels a day, compared 94.6 million barrels per day in 2016.

The IEA said that if OPEC sticks to its agreement, the global oil glut that has plagued markets for three years will finally disappear in 2017.

Saudi oil minister: I don’t lose sleep over shale

Despite the stunning growth, analysts caution that prices may not go much higher.

That’s because higher oil prices are likely to lure American shale producers back into the market. The total number of active oil rigs in the U.S. stood at 591 last week, according to data from Baker Hughes. That’s 152 more than a year ago.

U.S. crude stockpiles swelled in January to nearly 200 million barrels above their five-year average, according to the OPEC report.

“This vast increase in inventories is a result of a strong supply response from the U.S. shale producers, who were not involved in the OPEC agreement and who have instead been using the resultant price rally to increase output,” said Fiona Cincotta, an analyst at City Index.

More supply could once again put OPEC under pressure.

CNNMoney (London) First published February 13, 2017: 9:13 AM ET

Companies in the front line of the trade war between the United States and China are anxious about what comes next.

Executives at a World Economic Forum event in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin have been digesting the dramatic escalation in the conflict this week. Some appear relaxed, some worried, while others are hoping for the best.

The Trump administration launched its biggest barrage of tariffs against China early Tuesday. Within hours, Beijing said it would retaliate with more tariffs of its own.

“This round of tariffs is going to cause even more damage for US companies,” said William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

The head of Coca-Cola (KO) in China, Curtis Ferguson, isn’t fretting yet about the impact on his business. His supply chain is local, and he doesn’t expect Chinese consumers to stop buying Coke in the way they boycotted South Korean goods during a political spat between Beijing and Seoul last year.

“If that was a card for China, I think they would have played that one,” he said. The vast majority of Coca-Cola’s 50,000 strong workforce in the country are Chinese, and targeting the company could put jobs at risk, he added.

But Ferguson is also concerned about what may be around the corner.

“Business doesn’t like uncertainty. We’re for free trade,” Ferguson told CNN on the sidelines of the meeting in Tianjin. “I don’t know how bad things will get.”

While it’s running out of US imports to target with new tariffs, China could find other ways to make life difficult for global brands.

US companies operating in China have already reported increased hurdles, including delays at customs and more inspections by regulators, according to a recent survey by two American chambers of commerce based in the country.

Some businesses, such as Japanese drinks group Suntory, (STBFY) are already feeling the financial pinch.

CEO Takeshi Niinami said the trade war was an “immediate threat” to the company’s bottom line.

“We have huge investments in the United States where we produce bourbon that’s exported to other countries,” he said during a panel discussion on Wednesday.

The company now faces tariffs on its exports from the United States into China and the European Union.

“The whole global supply chain is getting hurt by aggressive US sanctions,” Niinami added.

Others are looking anxiously at what the dispute may mean for plans to enter the Chinese market, even if there’s little they can do to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) wants to take advantage of Beijing’s efforts to open up its financial industry and recently applied to launch a brokerage in the country.

Asked if he was worried Beijing could withhold approval for the venture because of the trade war, JPMorgan China CEO Mark Leung said that it’s “not within our control.”

The bank is “working constructively” with regulators, and still hoped to get a license soon, he added.

Trade experts expect China to dig in for a war of attrition with the United States. A resolution could be a long way off.

“Eventually there will be a negotiated solution,” said Wendy Cutler, vice president of think tank the Asia Society Policy Institute.

That could involve China toning down parts of its industrial policy, which the US administration says facilitates the theft of intellectual property. “It’s going to require both sides to show flexibility,” Cutler added.

Coca-Cola’s Ferguson suggested a more novel way to fix the relationship.

“Trump seems to have figured out Twitter (TWTR), but I think he needs to get WeChat and get talking with President Xi,” he said, referring to Tencent’s (TCEHY) popular Chinese social networking app.

CNNMoney (Tianjin, China) First published September 19, 2018: 11:02 AM ET

Voters in Switzerland have shocked the political establishment by rejecting a reform plan that would have brought the country’s corporate tax system in line with international norms.

The tax reforms, which were widely supported by the business community, would have removed a set of special low-tax privileges that had encouraged many multinational companies to set up shop in Switzerland.

Experts say the future of Switzerland’s tax system is now unclear. The vote result could create headaches for firms that had been banking on their implementation, and deter companies who had been considering a move to the country.

“They do not know what [tax] measures will be available… That is not a very solid basis for making investment decisions,” Peter Uebelhart, head of tax at KPMG in Switzerland, said in a video statement.

Switzerland has come under intense pressure from G20 and OECD nations in recent years to clean up its tax system. The country runs the risk of being “blacklisted” by other nations if it doesn’t change its tax system by 2019.

Many voters rejected the tax reform package over fears it might reduce the amount of revenue collected by the government, according to Stefan Kuhn, head of corporate tax at KPMG in Switzerland. That might have lead to tax hikes on the middle class.

The current tax system gives preferential treatment to some companies with large foreign operations. International tax authorities say the rules amount to unfair corporate subsidies.

Martin Naville, head of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, said it’s possible that voters didn’t understand the complexities of the reforms. The measures were rejected by 59% of voters.

“I think it’s a very bad day for Switzerland,” Naville said. “Clearly, the uncertainty and the credibility in the Swiss [system] has taken a massive hit.”

Related: How Europe’s elections could be hacked

Swiss authorities say they will move quickly to create a modified tax reform proposal. Naville said he hopes new rules are devised within the next few months.

“All stakeholders now have to take responsibility to develop an acceptable competitive tax system, and to regain credibility regarding the famed political stability which gave Switzerland such an advantageous position,” he said in a statement.

Naville hinted that potential tax reforms in the U.S. and U.K. could tempt Swiss-based companies to relocate, putting more pressure on Switzerland’s tax base.

CNNMoney (London) First published February 13, 2017: 10:10 AM ET

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published September 19, 2018.

New York
CNN Business
 — 

The United States has an abundance of natural gas that pollution-riddled China badly needs to wean itself off coal.

Eying China’s voracious demand, Cheniere Energy, ExxonMobil (XOM) and other American energy companies are racing to build more than two dozen expensive facilities to export liquefied natural gas, which is super-cooled natural gas that can be transported by ship.

China even marked President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing last fall by agreeing to invest as much as $43 billion into an LNG project in Alaska.

But this pairing of an able buyer and well-supplied seller no longer looks like a slam dunk. As part of the escalating trade war, China on Tuesday said it will impose a 10% tariff on $60 billion of US products – including LNG.

The trade tensions could make it more difficult for the next wave of LNG export facilities to get the financing needed to get off the ground.

“It’s obviously very concerning. The potential for some projects to get delayed is very real,” said Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, a trade group that represents Exxon, Chevron (CVX) and other energy companies.

The shale boom created an excess of natural gas in the United States. In a bid to get rid of the glut, the United States began exporting LNG in 2016 when Houston-based Cheniere (LNG) opened the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana. Earlier this year, Dominion Energy (D) opened Cove Point in Maryland, the nation’s second export facility .

China is the big elephant in the room. China’s appetite for LNG is growing rapidly. And it’s on the verge of overtaking Japan as the biggest buyer of LNG in the world.

That’s one major reason why the United States is planning to quadruple its export capacity by building at least 25 new facilities. LNG is a centerpiece of Trump’s energy dominance agenda.

In the 12 months leading up until June 2018, China was the second-largest buyer of US LNG, according to energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. Shell, the US subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), was the largest seller.

However, China has dialed back its US LNG purchases in recent months as trade tensions have ratcheted up, according to ClipperData. Beijing is instead turning more to LNG powerhouses Qatar, Australia and Russia.

“China has been able to find willing sellers closer to its own backyard,” said Matt Smith, ClipperData’s director of commodity research.

Now, the tariffs will likely price US LNG out of the Chinese market, according to S&P Global Platts.

“There are other suppliers around the world that would gladly supply China – and they don’t have a 10% tariff,” said Riedl.

Kyle Isakower, vice president for economic policy at the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement that the trade situation “works against US energy sector growth and counter to the administration’s stated goal of ‘energy dominance.’”

The good news is that China had threatened an even bigger tariff – 25% – on US LNG. Cheniere’s share price rallied 2% on Tuesday in response to the lower-than-feared rate.

In any case, analysts don’t believe that overall US LNG exports will be dramatically hurt in the short run. There are plenty of other buyers, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Latin America. And Washington has been pushing Europe to break its addiction to natural gas from Russia.

“If China buys less, someone else will buy more,” said Pavel Molchanov, an energy analyst at Raymond James. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Chinese buyer, a European buyer or a Latin American buyer. Revenue is revenue.”

The real fallout of the US-China trade war could be felt in that next wave of LNG projects that’s in the works.

Due to the enormous cost to build each facility, financing hinges on the ability to sign a long-term buyer to a contract. And the obvious buyer had been China. Until now, that is.

For instance, Cheniere announced plans in May to expand its Corpus Christi export terminal in Texas. The expansion was backstopped in part by a contract with PetroChina (PTR).

Cheniere did not respond to a request for comment on the impact of the tariffs from China.

In August, Cheniere CEO Jack Fusco told analysts that threatened tariffs from China may slow down talks with counterparts in China about future growth.

However, Fusco said that the tariffs won’t impact existing contracts. And he emphasized that the US-China energy relationship has been beneficial to both sides, including by creating thousands of direct and indirect American jobs.

“China is an important growth market for Cheniere,” Fusco said. “We expect to sell meaningful amounts of LNG into China over the long term.”

Nordstrom. Neiman Marcus. TJ Maxx. And now, Sears and Kmart.

Sears Holdings, the company that owns retail stores Sears and Kmart, reportedly said this weekend that it would remove 31 Trump-branded items from its website.

The company pulled the products as part of a plan to focus on its “most profitable items,” Sears spokesman Brian Hanover told Reuters.

Hanover told the news organization that items in the Trump Home line of furnishings were removed from the company’s website, although they could still be purchased through third-party vendors online. Neither store carried the items in their physical stores, he said.

Searches of the Sears and KMart websites did not turn up Trump Home products, except for those sold by third-party vendors.

In a statement Monday, spokesman Chris Brathwaite distanced Sears from any political controversy and reiterated that many Trump-branded products are still available through third-party sellers.

“In this case, certain products were removed from our websites that included a very small number of Trump products,” he said. “The headlines do not do justice to our business or this specific brand of products that we offer through our marketplace sellers.”

Brathwaite added that the company prefers to focus on its business and “leave the politics to others.”

Related: Is Ivanka Trump’s brand losing its bling?

The move makes Sears the latest to ditch products bearing the Trump name.

Earlier this month, Nordstrom (JWN) cited brand “performance,” not politics, as the reason why it decided to stop carrying Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories label.

President Trump knocked the department store on Twitter in retaliation. Nordstrom stock jumped 7% in the first two days following the tweet.

Other stores have also sought to distance themselves from Ivanka Trump’s brand.

Neiman Marcus removed the brand landing page from its website, and declined to tell CNNMoney whether it intended to keep Ivanka Trump products in stores or resume online sales in the future.

TJX Companies (TJX), the company that owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls, also said that it had recently told workers not to highlight the first daughter’s brand in stores.

And retailer Belk said last week that it planned to pull Ivanka Trump’s products from its website, but would continue to offer the line in its flagship stores.

Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories line has taken a hit in recent months.

Online sales of her brand dipped 26% in January compared to a year earlier, according to Slice Intelligence, a retail analysis firm. Slice studied the brand’s sales on five online stores: Nordstrom, Amazon, Zappos, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Online sales of Ivanka’s brand had surged in late 2015, and last month’s numbers appear to be more of a “return to reality,” according to Taylor Stanton, Slice’s marketing and communications manager. The brand’s dip in performance was abnormal in light of an uptick in 2016 online sales in the apparel and accessories category, said Jack Beckwythe, a Slice analyst.

Related: Kellyanne Conway unrepentant for Ivanka Trump plug

The Ivanka Trump brand has defended its performance.

Rosemary Young, senior director of marketing at Ivanka Trump, told CNNMoney last week that the brand was growing and experienced “significant year-over-year revenue growth in 2016.”

“We believe that the strength of a brand is measured not only by the profits it generates, but the integrity it maintains,” Young said.

Retailers like Bloomingdale’s, Amazon (AMZN), Lord & Taylor, Macy’s (M) and Zappos all still carry Ivanka Trump products.

Ivanka Trump has taken a leave of absence from her namesake company since her father won the presidency. She has no formal role in the administration but is expected to have a voice on issues such as women’s empowerment and child care.

–CNNMoney’s Jackie Wattles contributed to this story.

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 12, 2017: 3:35 PM ET

What trade war? The Dow just soared to its first record high since late January.

The milestone shows that Wall Street is mostly unfazed by the escalating trade clash between the United States and China.

The Dow’s 251-point leap on Thursday marked its 100th record close since President Donald Trump’s election, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The S&P 500 also notched an all-time high.

The Dow closed at 26,657. It has spiked about 3,300 points since a low on April 2, when investors were more worried about trade. They’re betting that the strong US economy will power through the outbreak of tariffs.

“The market is showing incredible strength,” said Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group.

Stocks spiked late last year and in January after Republicans enacted a sweeping corporate tax cut. The euphoria sent the Dow soaring from 25,000 to 26,000 in just seven trading days. Even market optimists were questioning whether stock valuations had gotten out of hand.

“In January, it felt like the market was bulletproof,” said Dan Suzuki, portfolio strategist at Richard Bernstein Advisors. “That’s no longer the case.”

Eventually, that rally crumbled in dramatic fashion, punctuated by two single-day 1,000-point plunges. Wall Street was overcome by fears about inflation and spiking interest rates. It was the scariest moment for US investors in years.

“Sentiment had gotten really out of hand. The pullback was a reality check. The lack of a new high for so long has let the market play catchup to fundamentals,” Hickey said.

And the fundamentals look very good. Corporate earnings have gone through the roof, thanks to strong economic growth and the corporate tax cut. The unemployment rate has dropped to just 3.9%. And US economic growth has climbed to an annualized pace of 4.2%.

“What matters most to investors is corporate profits,” Suzuki said. “The profit trends are healthy — and accelerating. That’s tremendously bullish for US stocks.”

CNNMoney (New York) First published September 20, 2018: 9:58 AM ET

Tesla is bringing its electric cars to the heart of the oil producing world.

The automaker announced Monday that its first official venture in the Middle East will be in the United Arab Emirates.

The first cars — the Model S and Model X — will hit the road this summer.

“Timing seems to be good to really make a significant debut in this region starting in Dubai,” Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Tesla owners will have access to two existing supercharging stations in the UAE, and Telsa plans to open five more by the end of the year.

Despite sitting on huge oil and gas reserves, the UAE has ambitious plans to go green. Last month it said it will invest $163 billion to boost alternative energy use over the next three decades.

Related: Tesla reveals what it will charge for a charge

It’s the latest in a series of expansion announcements for Tesla. Last week, Musk hinted that Tesla may soon come to India.

Musk has also teased plans to build “heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport” as well developing a ride-hailing network, which could be similar to Uber.

Speaking in Dubai, the entrepreneur expounded on the future of robotics.

“We will see autonomy and artificial intelligence advance tremendously,” Musk said. “In probably 10 years, it will be very unusual for cars to be built that are not fully autonomous.”

Related: Elon Musk’s surprising secret weapon: Trump?

But he also warned of the “disruptive” nature of autonomous vehicles.

“That disruption I’m talking about will take place over about 20 years. Still, 20 years is a short period of time to have something like 12% to 15% of the workforce be unemployed.”

Musk said governments must pay close attention to artificial intelligence, create sustainable transport and be wary of mass unemployment.

“This will be a massive social challenge. Ultimately, we need to think about universal basic income. I don’t think we have a choice,” he said. “There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better.”

— Seth Fiegerman contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (Dubai) First published February 13, 2017: 11:06 AM ET

Business is worried enough about Britain crashing out of the European Union. Now it has a new nightmare: a blind Brexit that could extend the uncertainty over trade for years.

Fears are rising that the United Kingdom may leave the European Union in March 2019 with a deal so vague that it gives companies and investors no greater clarity on the future than they had in June 2016 when voters backed Brexit in a referendum.

The political pressure increased Thursday when the only firm proposal for Brexit was panned by a key EU leader and French President Emmanuel Macron described people who said leaving the bloc would be easy as “liars.”

“The prospect of a vague Brexit, with only a slimline political declaration about the future EU-UK relationship published alongside a legally-binding withdrawal agreement, is gaining ground,” said Mujtaba Rahman of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

A blind Brexit may be even worse for some companies than a scenario where the United Kingdom leaves in March without an agreement on preferential access to Europe’s vast markets. That would deliver a major shock but executives would at least know what they’re dealing with.

Stephen Phipson, CEO of the manufacturing trade group EEF, said further years of uncertainty would be most painful for large foreign manufacturers with complicated supply chains that crisscross borders.

Global companies such as Airbus (EADSF), Siemens (SMAWF), BMW (BMWYY), and Nissan (NSANF) are in the firing line.

“An automotive manufacturer that has three plants here and one in Eastern Europe, he’s going to put his investment over there,” said Phipson. “Boards won’t release capital to invest because they’re not sure of the environment.”

Many companies have put investments on hold following the vote for Brexit because they don’t know whether they’ll face new regulations, tariffs or customs checks at borders. It’s also unclear if they’ll be able to move staff between the European Union and the United Kingdom, or be forced to pay new taxes.

BMW (BMWYY) said Tuesday that it would shut its Mini factory in England for one month of maintenance immediately after Brexit because it can’t be sure of getting the parts it needs. Jaguar cited uncertainty over Brexit as one reason for putting 1,000 workers on a three-day work week until Christmas.

Some executives have pinned their hopes on a proposal developed by British Prime Minister Theresa May that would maintain close trading ties in goods and agricultural products and include a transition period of nearly two years.

But the European Union’s top political leader Donald Tusk took a hard line on the plan — known as Chequers — after a meeting of EU leaders in Salzburg on Thursday, saying the proposal would not work because it risks undermining the bloc’s single market in goods and services.

May insisted that her plan is the only way forward. Still, she could be forced back to the drawing board by pressure from the European Union, her own party or the opposition.

But even a blind Brexit would have opponents, including some that argue Britain would be giving up its negotiating ace: money it owes to the European Union.

“Hardliners will fight back by saying that the UK is throwing away its best card — the £39 billion divorce payment to the EU — for vague warm words about the future relationship and so would have little or no leverage during the talks on it during the transitional phase,” said Rahman.

Asked about a scenario where a blind Brexit was followed by Britain eventually crashing out the bloc without a final deal on trade, Phipson was unequivocal.

“That sounds very unappealing,” he said.

CNNMoney (London) First published September 20, 2018: 12:30 PM ET