Category Archives: International trade
Raab shrugs off Brexit troubles, urging people to take ‘10-year view’
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.
Continue reading...Brexit cost will be four times greater for UK than EU, Brussels forecasts
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.
Continue reading...UK importers brace for ‘disaster’ as new Brexit customs checks loom
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.
Continue reading...Northern Ireland suspends Brexit checks amid safety fears for port staff
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.”
UK to apply to join free trade pact with nations on other side of world
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.
Continue reading...EU means business over Covid vaccine exports, says Von der Leyen
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.
Continue reading...‘A Brexit nightmare’: the British businesses being pushed to breaking point
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.
Continue reading...‘Absolute carnage’: EU hauliers reject UK jobs over Brexit rules
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.
Continue reading...EU halts imports of seafood from smaller Scottish companies
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.
Continue reading...‘I’m stuck here’: lorry drivers in Calais begin to feel effects of Brexit
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.
Continue reading...Australia insists WHO inquiry into Covid origin must be robust, despite China tensions
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.
Continue reading...EU states unanimously back Brexit trade and security deal
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.
Continue reading...UK and US close to deal on cutting tariffs, says White House trade chief
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.
Continue reading...Brexit: parliamentary recess from Thursday hits hopes for deal approval
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.
Continue reading...New Zealand foreign minister offers to help broker peace deal between Australia and China
Nanaia Mahuta says Canberra and Beijing ‘will have to be willing to come together and concede in some areas’
New Zealand’s new foreign minister has said the country could help negotiate a truce between Australia and regional heavyweight China with the two nations caught in an escalating trade and diplomatic spat.
Nanaia Mahuta said on Tuesday that hosting the high-profile Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next year presented an opportunity for New Zealand to bring both parties to the table.
Continue reading...Australia accuses China of breaching free trade deal by restricting imports
Trade minister Simon Birmingham says ‘targeted nature’ of China’s measures raise concern about its adherence to trade deal and WTO obligations
China appears to be breaching its trade deal with Australia by taking a series of “disruptive and restrictive measures” against Australian exports, the Morrison government has said.
As concerns grow among Australian exporters about the impact of a widening range of actions, the trade minister, Simon Birmingham, told the Senate on Wednesday all dispute settlement options were on the table.
Continue reading...WTO complaint ‘next step’ in tariff dispute between Australia and China, trade minister says
Trade conflicts threaten global confidence as world economy struggles to recover from pandemic, Simon Birmingham says
The Australian government is continuing its tough talk against Beijing’s trade impositions with the trade minister, Simon Birmingham, giving the strongest indication yet that Canberra will take its complaints to the World Trade Organization.
China first announced it believed Australian wine was being dumped in China in August and last week the Chinese ministry of commerce announced tariffs on Australian wine products that would double or triple prices making export trade “unviable”.
Continue reading...Taiwan politicians throw pig guts at each other in row over US meat imports
Opposition party’s ‘disgusting’ offal protest prompts scuffle in Taipei legislative yuan
Parliamentarians in Taiwan have thrown pig guts at each other before coming to blows over plans to allow US meat imports.
Members of the opposition Chinese nationalist party (KMT) brought the offal to the legislative yuan on Friday in the latest of daily protests during parliamentary sittings.
Continue reading...US and Taiwan sign five-year agreement on health, tech and security
Countries emphasise potential for cooperation and future partnerships, which Beijing opposes
Taiwan and the United States have held their first high-level meetings under a new economic dialogue, inking a five-year agreement and pledging future cooperation on health, tech, and security.
The talks, held amid a contentious US presidential transition period and high regional tensions with China, did not advance Taiwan’s hopes for a trade deal with US, despite the two countries growing closer under Donald Trump and his pushback on Beijing.
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