Category Archives: Trade policy

UK and EU horticulture firms warn of harm caused by post-Brexit border delays

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Nursery and garden centre trade bodies write open letter saying problems at border need to be urgently fixed

Nurseries and garden centres across Britain and Europe have warned that new post-Brexit border posts are not working properly and are leading to delays, damage and significant extra costs for importers bringing plants into Britain.

The Horticultural Trade Association, which represents 1,400 garden retailers and growers in the UK, has joined forces with several European trade bodies to write an open letter to call for urgent solutions, warning the new system was adding more than 25% to import costs.

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‘Disbelief’ as US-UK trade deals under threat after Britain axes negotiators

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Business community decries ‘act of arson’ as one-seventh of trade posts within British consulates in the US are scrapped

America was meant to be Britain’s route to the sunlit uplands of Brexit. Then, after hopes of a free trade deal evaporated, successive Conservative governments have set their sights lower, by trying to forge closer ties with individual US states.

Now the civil servants responsible for delivering those state-level deals have been let go, in what a furious British businessman described as “an act of arson”.

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Labour to seek ‘stable position’ with Europe rather than reopen Brexit debate

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Shadow business secretary says trying to rejoin single market or customs union would cause ‘more difficulties’

Labour would rather have stability in the UK’s relationship with Europe than try to seek accelerated economic growth by rejoining the EU’s single market or customs union, the shadow business secretary has said.

Addressing the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) conference on Thursday, Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged that Brexit had been “very difficult for businesses” because it had erected trade barriers, but said reopening the debate would be worse.

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NCA failure to investigate imports linked to forced Uyghur labour unlawful, court rules

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Decision could result in retailers being prosecuted if they import goods made through forced labour, campaigners say

The UK National Crime Agency’s decision not to launch an investigation into the importation of cotton products manufactured by forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province was unlawful, the court of appeal has found.

Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), which brought the action, said Thursday’s decision was a landmark win that could lead to high street retailers being prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) if they import goods made through forced labour.

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UK must stop ‘walking on eggshells’ over post-Brexit deal, says BCC chief

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British Chambers of Commerce director general calls on politicians to improve ties with EU and strike better deal

The UK’s current trade deal with the EU is not working and the country must stop “walking on eggshells” around the issue of building closer ties with its biggest trading partner, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is expected to say.

At the annual BCC global conference in London on Thursday, Shevaun Haviland will say that the UK must forge closer ties with the EU and the next government should focus on improving trading relations to grow the economy.

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Labour would try to improve UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with EU, says Reeves

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Shadow chancellor’s remarks mark shift in tone for party, which has preferred to not talk about Brexit so far

Labour would try to improve elements of the UK’s trade deal with the EU, Rachel Reeves has indicated, saying also that most financial services companies have “not regarded Brexit as being a great opportunity for their businesses”.

While Labour remains committed to not making any major changes to Brexit, the shadow chancellor’s comments show that the party could nonetheless make more policy moves on EU trade links than previously believed.

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World’s largest food awards move judging panel from UK to Ireland to avoid Brexit red tape

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Due to new import controls, a judging session for the Great Taste awards is being held outside the UK for the first time in 30 years

The Great Taste awards are a British success story – the world’s largest food awards, celebrating the best products on the planet. But new post-Brexit import controls have forced the organisers to hold a judging panel outside the UK for the first time in the awards’ 30-year history.

On Sunday, judges from the Guild of Fine Foods panel will travel to County Tipperary in Ireland to spend three days tasting products that have become much harder to bring to the UK.

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UK trade summit in Saudi Arabia accused of promoting firms linked to senior Tories

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Lib Dems says Conservatives have ‘serious questions to answer’ about what appears to be clear conflict of interest

A UK government trade summit in Saudi Arabia has been criticised for helping to promote businesses linked to a string of senior Conservatives, including peers and the former chair of the party, Ben Elliot.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, has been in Riyadh this week launching the government-backed Great Futures campaign to promote British trade with Saudi Arabia, despite the Gulf country’s controversial record on the repression of women and LGBT people.

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Food importers in UK say new Brexit checks could add 60% to costs

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Businesses say fees for Dover inspections are much higher than first thought and will push up shop prices

Importers of food from the EU into Britain have said newly introduced post-Brexit checks could increase their costs by up to 60%, pushing up prices for customers and driving some shops out of business.

After five previous delays, the UK government on Tuesday introduced the physical checks on animal and plant products entering from the EU, having revealed at the start of this month that it would be implementing a common user charge (CUC) of up to £145 per consignment.

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UK to delay start of health and safety checks on EU imports – report

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New post-Brexit border checks ‘set to zero’ to avoid what Defra calls risk of serious disruption

The UK government has reportedly told port health authorities it will not “turn on” health and safety checks for EU imports as new post-Brexit border controls begin this month.

A presentation prepared by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) highlighted the risk of “significant disruption” if the new measures were implemented, according to the Financial Times. It made clear that the systems would not be fully ready on time.

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New Brexit checks will cause food shortages in UK, importers warn

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Rules due to come in this month will impose new handling fees – and experts say small suppliers are already being driven away

Ministers’ decision to impose Brexit import checks on 30 April will lead to shortages of some foods, flowers and herbs, industry leaders have warned.

In the week after the government was accused of blindsiding the British food industry by giving 27 days’ notice that every consignment of items such as camembert, steak, tulips and chives would be subject to fees of up to £145, small retailers such as delis and farm shops have been scrambling to make sure they still have products to sell.

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‘Our profits could disappear’: Small UK businesses hit out at new import fees

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Post-Brexit charges of up to £145 may lead to a reduced range of goods available for consumers

British small businesses have hit out at newly announced post-Brexit import fees coming in later this month, warning they could wipe out profits and make importing some products unfeasible.

Trade bodies, retailers and small firms said that the new charges of up to £145 for each consignment could force them to limit the range of items they can offer, while others may have to push up their prices.

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Dover health authority says inland border facility will be ‘open door for disease’

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Sevington site was never designed to handle volume of imports envisaged by post-Brexit changes due in April, port’s health chief warns

An inland facility set up to carry out checks on nearly all EU meat and dairy imports coming through Dover will be unable to cope when post-Brexit rules come in next month, the port’s health authority has warned.

The Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) said the Sevington facility in Ashford, which is 22 miles inland, had not been designed to handle the scale of imports expected, and claimed its geographical position would “create an open door for disease and food fraud”.

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UK and India put free trade deal talks on ice until later this year

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Latest round of negotiations end without breakthrough and talks will not resume until after India’s election campaign

The UK and India have closed their 14th round of trade negotiations without reaching a deal and will put the discussions on ice until later this year.

The UK government ended the latest round of talks on Friday night after two weeks of intensive negotiations with Indian officials failed to bear fruit.

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UK negotiators fly to India in last-ditch effort to seal free-trade deal

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Exclusive: Team will try to resolve goods and services issues amid fears Delhi is holding out for a Labour government

British negotiators have flown to India in a last-ditch attempt to clinch a trade deal amid concerns that Narendra Modi’s administration intends to hold out for a Labour government.

A team of negotiators led by a senior civil servant flew out on Monday with a mandate to resolve the goods and services chapters, which are among the thorniest outstanding issues in the talks.

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UK gives £600m backing to Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘carbon bomb’ petrochemical plant

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Campaigners say Ineos project in Antwerp will turbocharge plastic production on a scale not seen before in Europe

The UK government is providing a €700m (£600m) guarantee for the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years that will turbocharge plastic production.

The huge petrochemical plant has been described as a “carbon bomb” by campaigners. Being constructed in the Belgian city of Antwerp by Ratcliffe’s company Ineos, it will bring plastic production to Europe on a scale not seen before, just as countries are trying to negotiate a binding global treaty to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution.

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UK officials recommend extending post-Brexit steel quotas

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Kemi Badenoch to make final decision on protections amid British industry fears of possible flood of imports

Whitehall officials have recommended extending post-Brexit steel quotas – a development that will come as a relief to the British steel industry, which had feared a rise in imports.

The “steel safeguards”, which were due to expire at the end of June, were first brought in by the EU in 2018, which feared that countries such as China would dump excess steel on the market after sales to the US were blocked by Donald Trump.

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Post-Brexit watchdog ‘ready’ to investigate flood of cheaper Chinese electric cars

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Remarks by head of trade authority come amid fears UK firms could be undercut ‘to extinction’

The head of Britain’s post-Brexit trade watchdog has said it is ready to follow Brussels in launching an investigation into Chinese companies flooding the market for electric cars, but the government has not asked it to do so.

Oliver Griffiths, the chief executive of the UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA), which advises the government on trade defence, said it was keeping lines of communication open with ministers and had been in close contact with the car industry. “We’ll be ready to go if anyone does come to us,” he told the Guardian in an interview.

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UK farmers vow to mount more blockades over cheap post-Brexit imports

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Inspired by French action, British campaigners say they will continue slow tractor protests after Dover roads were blocked

Farmers say there will be further French-style blockades following a slow tractor protest at Dover against low supermarket prices and cheap food imports from post-Brexit trade deals.

Around 40 tractors and other farm vehicles blocked roads around the Kent port for several hours on Friday evening by driving slowly and carrying signs with slogans such as “No More Cheap Imports”.

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UK anti-dumping body recommends lifting limits on steel imports

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Proposal to suspend safeguarding measures on certain products follows news of Tata’s Port Talbot closure plans

The government’s anti-dumping body has recommended that measures limiting the import of certain steel products be lifted after the decision to close the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.

The Trade Remedies Authority, which is charged with protecting UK industry from dumped or subsidised imports, said its preliminary view was to advise the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, to suspend safeguarding measures on imports of hot-rolled flat and coil steel for a temporary period of nine months.

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