Category Archives: International trade

Suez canal: Dutch and Japanese teams brought in to help free ship

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Salvage teams from Netherlands and Japan called in to help refloat Ever Given, which is blocking canal

Salvage teams from the Netherlands and Japan have been enlisted to redraw plans to free a giant container ship blocking the Suez canal, as fears grew that the operation could take weeks.

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp, which leased the vessel, said the Dutch firm Smit Salvage and Japan’s Nippon Salvage had been appointed by the ship’s owner and would work alongside its captain and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on a plan to refloat the ship and let traffic resume on one of the world’s key trade routes.

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EU to widen criteria for possible Covid vaccine export bans

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Bloc expected to assess countries’ Covid vaccination coverage and record in facilitating exports to EU

The EU is expected to take into account the level of vaccination coverage in a country and its record in facilitating exports to the bloc when deciding on whether to prohibit individual vaccine shipments to the UK and elsewhere.

The revision of the export authorisation scheme, widening the criteria that will guide Brussels’ decisions on export requests, is due to be announced on Wednesday. EU leaders will then on Thursday discuss going further in controlling vaccine distribution when they meet by videoconference.

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Century-old olive trees felled as Spain’s farmers try to cut costs

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Plunge in global olive oil prices means hard decisions for Spanish olive oil producers

Century-old olive trees are being chopped up to use as firewood or sold off as garden ornaments as some in Spain’s olive oil industry turn to younger, more productive trees in hope of lowering costs.

In recent years the sector in Spain has been left reeling; a plunge in global olive oil prices was followed by a punishing 25% tariff levied by the US on Spanish olive oil. After prices sank to levels that left many struggling to break even, the industry has slowly recovered, though prices remain shy of 2018 levels.

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Brexit: trade survey finds 74% of British firms hit by delays with EU markets

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Brexit red tape and disruption to global trade from pandemic leaves businesses ‘severely strained’

Three-quarters of British manufacturers are struggling to cope with delays in moving goods in and out of the EU amid continuing disruption caused by Brexit and the Covid pandemic, industry figures said.

Two months after the UK left the EU on trade terms agreed by Boris Johnson’s government, research from the manufacturing trade group Make UK has shown that 74% of firms in a survey of more than 200 leading industrial companies are facing delays with EU imports and exports.

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Ports feel the chill as trade re-routes around Brexit Britain

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In Holyhead, traffic has fallen 50% as hauliers stymied by Brexit find their way from Ireland to France without entering the UK

Perched on the shores of Anglesey, the island linked by road bridges to the north-west coast of Wales, Holyhead’s geography has given it a leading role in British-Irish trade since the early 19th century.

About 50 miles directly across the Irish Sea from Dublin, a journey of just three-and-a-quarter hours by ferry, Holyhead was until December the second busiest roll-on roll-off port in the UK after Dover. About 450,000 trucks rumbled through each year on their way to Dublin, with cargoes of meat and agricultural produce, secondhand cars and items destined for the shelves of Irish supermarkets.

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Raab shrugs off Brexit troubles, urging people to take ‘10-year view’

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Foreign secretary talks up global growth opportunities and says Brussels ‘imposing obstacles’ to trade

Potential losses in UK trade with the EU because of Brexit will be more than made up by more opportunities in developing markets, Dominic Raab has claimed, saying people should take a “10-year view” of the current troubles faced by companies.

Questioned about warnings from a number of firms that bureaucracy and duties means they will go out of business, or have to relocate operations inside the EU, the foreign secretary also appeared to blame Brussels, saying it was “imposing” obstacles to trade.

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Brexit cost will be four times greater for UK than EU, Brussels forecasts

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Departure to cost EU 0.5% of GDP but UK 2.25% by end 2022, according to first official estimate since deal was agreed

The economic blow dealt by Brexit will be four times greater in the UK than the EU, according to the latest forecasts by Brussels.

A month into the new relationship, the European commission said the UK’s exit on the terms agreed by Boris Johnson’s government would generate a loss in gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2022 of about 2.25% in the UK compared with continued membership. In contrast, the hit for the EU is estimated to be about 0.5% over the same period.

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UK importers brace for ‘disaster’ as new Brexit customs checks loom

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Exporters badly hit already but KPMG says ‘biggest headaches’ have yet to come’ for importers

British firms are warning of further Brexit red tape as the government prepares to introduce a long list of new controls on imports from the European Union in April and July.

In the coming months further checks are due to be phased in at the UK border, controlling everything from the import of sausages and live mussels to horses and trees, as well as the locations these checks can take place.

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Northern Ireland suspends Brexit checks amid safety fears for port staff

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Decision came after council withdrew 12 staff at Larne following reports of ‘menacing behaviour’

Brexit checks on animal and food products arriving into Belfast and Larne ports have been suspended amid fears over the safety of staff, Northern Ireland’s agriculture ministry has said.

The decision came after Mid and East Antrim borough council agreed on Monday night to remove 12 of its staff at Larne port with immediate effect, following an “upsurge in sinister and menacing behaviour in recent weeks”.

A spokesman for Stormont’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said: “On the basis of information received today and pending further discussions with the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland], Daera has decided in the interests of the wellbeing of staff to temporarily suspend physical inspections of products of animal origin at Larne and Belfast.

“The situation will be kept under review and in the meantime full documentary checks will continue to be carried out as usual.”

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UK to apply to join free trade pact with nations on other side of world

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Liz Truss to seek to join 11-nation trans-Pacific partnership, whose nearest member is 3,000 miles away

The British government is to formally apply to join a mammoth free-trade pact that includes Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand now that it has left the EU.

Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, will ask to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) when she speaks to ministers in Japan and New Zealand on Monday.

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EU means business over Covid vaccine exports, says Von der Leyen

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Commission president says firms must deliver on orders after AstraZeneca warns of shortfall

The EU “means business”, Ursula von der Leyen has said, as the bloc doubled down on plans for tighter monitoring of vaccine exports to countries outside of the union, such as the UK.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, the president of the European commission said the EU had invested billions and “companies must now deliver” to the 27 member states.

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‘A Brexit nightmare’: the British businesses being pushed to breaking point

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Less than a month after leaving the EU, trade is flowing so badly that small firms are moving operations abroad to survive

Christophe Fricke lectures in German at the University of Bristol and adores living in England. He was born in Germany but his anglophilia became so strong after moving here that he wrote a book called 111 Gründe, England zu lieben (“111 Reasons to Love England”) in 2018. He selected the gardens of Cornwall, the National Portrait Gallery, the way the English use collective nouns for groups of animals (herds, packs, and so on) and their fascination with murder cases in his varied list of reasons for loving this country.

But since 1 January, Fricke has been reminded that there are also worrying things about life in England – and being outside the EU is now chief among them.

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‘Absolute carnage’: EU hauliers reject UK jobs over Brexit rules

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Freight company director blames new requirement for EU transport firms to provide VAT and tariff guarantees

A British freight company director with more than over 20 years’ experience has told how EU hauliers and transport companies are turning their backs on UK business because they are being asked to provide tens of thousands of pounds in guarantees to cover VAT or potential tariffs on arrival in Britain.

The financial guarantee requirement did not exist before Brexit and EU transport companies who previously provided a shipping service for small and medium-sized firms have decided they do not want the extra financial burden, according to Colin Jeffries, who runs Key Cargo International in Manchester.

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EU halts imports of seafood from smaller Scottish companies

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Export firms point to post-Brexit delays around health certificates, IT systems and missing customs papers

Deliveries of Scottish seafood to the EU from smaller companies have been halted until Monday, 18 January, after post-Brexit problems with health checks, IT systems and customs documents caused a huge backlog.

Scottish fishing has been plunged into crisis, as lorry-loads of live seafood and some fish destined for shops and restaurants in France, Spain and other countries have been rejected because they are taking too long to arrive.

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‘I’m stuck here’: lorry drivers in Calais begin to feel effects of Brexit

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Truck drivers tell of long delays for checks at the Eurotunnel as trade barrier goes up between UK and EU

Roger White arrived in France at 2.30pm on Tuesday with a truckload of hard cheese from Somerset.

Before Brexit he would have rolled off the Eurotunnel train and carried on up the A16 to Belgium, unloading his wares a few hours later at his ultimate destination in Utrecht.

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Australia insists WHO inquiry into Covid origin must be robust, despite China tensions

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Australia, whose early call for inquiry sparked furious Chinese response, says it expects ‘robust, independent and comprehensive’ report

Australia is pushing to ensure the global inquiry it helped trigger into the early handling of the Covid-19 pandemic doesn’t pull any punches – a move that has the potential to risk further recriminations from China.

Amid scepticism among several government backbenchers that the inquiry will fully address Chinese authorities’ early missteps and reporting delays, Australia is using its final months on a top World Health Organization board to press for the investigation to remain robust and independent.

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EU states unanimously back Brexit trade and security deal

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Backing of EU27 paves way for new arrangements between UK and EU to come into force on 1 January

The post-Brexit trade and security deal has been unanimously backed by EU member states, paving the way for the new arrangements to come into force on 1 January.

At a meeting of ambassadors in Brussels, the 27 member states gave their support for the 1,246-page treaty to be “provisionally applied” at the end of the year. The decision will be formally completed by written procedure at 3pm central European time (1400 GMT) on Tuesday.

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UK and US close to deal on cutting tariffs, says White House trade chief

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Talks on reducing charges on items such as Scotch whisky follow UK move to drop levy on Boeing

The UK and the United States are hoping to reach an agreement on reducing trade tariffs, according to Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative in Donald Trump’s outgoing administration.

In an interview with the BBC, Lighthizer said he was in talks with the UK’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, which could remove hefty tariffs imposed by the US on goods including Scotch whisky.

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Brexit: parliamentary recess from Thursday hits hopes for deal approval

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Move seen as political theatre as talks in Brussels continue, but may not preclude recall of MPs and peers

MPs and peers will begin their Christmas break on Thursday evening, the government has announced, amid waning hopes that a Brexit deal will be struck in time to be approved in parliament next week.

With talks on trade and security continuing in Brussels amid signs of progress and compromise, ministers had considered stipulating that parliament should sit on Monday and Tuesday to allow legislation implementing a deal to be passed rapidly.

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