The ‘EU reset’ proposal has undermined British control over its trade and regulatory autonomy. While the Prime Minister calls this agreement pragmatic – hoping it will boost the UK economy by £9 billion per year by 2040 – its terms tie the UK to EU rules across critical policy areas, from food safety to fisheries, […]
It has been an important week for the UK. It can now count a hat trick of firsts since leaving the EU in the execution of its independent trade policy. First accession country to the CPTPP. First major country to have a trade deal with India (negotiated in three years), and now first country to […]
Under Donald Trump’s mass tariffs scheme, the UK is one of a number of countries on the minimum rate of 10% (along with Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Argentina, UAE, Egypt and others). Much of the world economy is on much higher tariff rates. The EU rate is 20%. Vietnam’s is 46%. China’s is 54%. The fact […]
The siren calls for retaliation against the US if Donald Trump imposes new tariffs on the UK remind me of this exchange from ‘Braveheart’… Longshanks: Archers! English Commander: I beg pardon, sire. Won’t we hit our own troops? Longshanks: Yes… but we’ll hit theirs as well. The serious point here is that tariffs hurt people […]
It was the early 2000s. The Y2K panic had been replaced by hope for the new century. The TV show ‘Friends’ was in its prime. The skinny jeans era was on the horizon. A pesky retailer scoured the world, trying to bring the cheapest branded trousers to its customers, wielding a Nokia 3310 and fuelled […]
President Donald Trump addressed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin via social media last week, calling on him to settle now and stop the war in Ukraine or face increased sanctions. However, as the experience of his predecessor shows, this may be easier said than done. Can Trump deliver more effective sanctions than Joe Biden, and […]
Can Britain strike a deal with President Trump and avoid the looming tariff trap? Why are leaders in the UK and the US falling short of the so-called “Reagan test”? And, could the UK be on the cusp of creating its own billion-pound tech titan? Join Douglas Carswell from the Mississippi Centre for Public Policy, […]
One of Keir Starmer’s persistent priorities is ‘resetting’ the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European Union. A year ago, before the general election, I wrote that the narrative underlying Labour’s approach to the EU was that ‘Britain did a terrible thing, we disgraced ourselves in front of our endlessly patient European neighbours, and it is […]
It has taken a quarter of a century, but the EU and the Mercosur bloc of countries comprising Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (Venezuela is currently suspended) have, in theory, agreed terms on a trade deal. I say ‘in theory’ as the French and Polish governments are still opposed to the deal, and might […]
During his first term as US president, Donald Trump adopted a forthright approach to the issue of Nato funding. It had been an issue that concerned previous presidents too, but Trump forced it into the open and demanded that member states pay their fair share on defence. An inconvenient truth is that his approach worked, […]
In 2020, when she was then Secretary of State for International Trade, Liz Truss went to Washington D.C. to meet with President Donald Trump as part of the UK government’s negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between our two countries and to also tackle a few trade disputes. We sent Truss off with a […]
Something big and benign happened last month, and I bet you missed it. Indonesia formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It deposited its official letter of application just as Britain was completing its own accession process. The way is now clear to a much closer commercial relationship between the two […]
Some 78 years after Churchill coined the phrase ‘the special relationship’ to describe the alliance between the UK and the US, both powers must continue to seek ways to deepen their economic ties and accelerate economic growth in order to meet the demands of global leadership. So it was very promising to have the United […]
A strategic partnership on critical raw materials (CRM) between the EU and Serbia is the latest manifestation of the rush to meet net zero targets. But it has also fuelled disappointment among those who had believed the EU was motivated by core political values rather than economic needs. For some, it is a triple betrayal; […]
The Government wants a new deal with Brussels. A ‘very ambitious’ Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement (otherwise known as a ‘veterinary agreement’) with the EU to smooth the flow of food in both directions. The prize makes sense – getting away from the need for paperwork, certificates and SPS checks at Border Control Posts (BCP) […]
A new government means a new set of Secretaries of State and ministers. When it comes to international trade, Jonathan Reynolds will be the fifth person since 2016 to hold the brief. As someone who spent 16 months advising one of his predecessors, here is what I think he should do. First, he should prioritise […]
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