The UK has a long history as an agricultural trading nation. For much of our existence, we’ve been a net importer of food, creating a free trade economics 'virtue' out of the necessity of needing to feed ourselves. But calibrating a well-balanced trade policy for agriculture and food is a notoriously difficult thing to do. When we were part of the EU, UK commentators often criticised Brussels for being excessively protectionist. The UK is now a free agent, in trade policy terms. So just how much has actually changed? Have we actually adopted a liberal agri-food trade policy? Brexit has created ..read more

This episode of the Trade Bites podcast scrutinizes the topic of trade agreement scrutiny. In addition to the ratification of the UK's accession to the Asia Pacific Trade Block (CPTPP) earlier this month, there are at least seven new UK Free Trade Agreements currently under negotiation. How do we know that the trade policy decisions that the Government is taking on our behalf are the right ones? Alan Winters (CITP), Alan Ramsey (Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland), Alex Horne (Barrister and Durham University) and Mairi Spowage (CITP) discuss whether the Government is delivering val ..read more

The World Trade Organization's thirteenth ministerial conference (MC13) took place in the last week of February. Trade ministers from around the world met to take key decisions on the regulation of international trade. But they didn’t actually decide on very much. Is the WTO now in a state of crisis? What’s the point of an organisation that can’t seem to decide on anything much? What needs to change? Should we perhaps blame the governments who need to make the compromises without which international agreements can’t happen? Dmitry Grozoubinski (Explain Trade), George Riddell (EY) and Ana Soare ..read more

Just over three years since we left the EU single market, what has been the trade impact of Brexit? British exporters and importers trading with the EU have faced a whole new regulatory environment. Has Brexit led to shifts in the UK’s trade patterns – a pivot towards other parts of the world? Or does the gravity model beloved of trade economists still hold true? Has the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the TCA) proven to be a satisfactory framework for EU-UK trade? And, with elections happening in both the EU and the UK later this year, might we see any kind of movement towards changes in the ..read more

Over the past 40 years or so, exporters have got used to the idea that the whole world is their marketplace – a notion which has been encouraged through moves by governments around the world to reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade. But with global pandemics, trade wars, fuel crises and over the past few years – could it be that the process of globalisation might be moving into reverse? “Near-shoring” is the idea that in today’s increasingly problematic global trading environment, you might be better off buying and selling in markets which are more nearby, and hence less fraught with risk ..read more

In our latest podcast we look at how the United Kingdom is getting on with its most significant trade relationship, that with its biggest trading partner the European Union. Over 18 months since the UK finally left the EU’s Single Market and went ahead with the version of Brexit favoured by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his team, questions are being asked about Britain’s post-Brexit journey. Economic data suggests that the UK’s economy is growing less rapidly than most other G20 countries, and diplomatic relations between the EU and the UK continue to be frosty amidst ongoing disagreements ..read more

Global supply chains have barely left the headlines in recent years. It is a fact of modern life that many of the goods we consume have multiple components manufactured in different places at different times which somehow come together to create the finished article. Yet global supply chains have started to come under pressure from a series of shocks ranging from the geopolitical to the environmental. From baby formula to cars, when consumers face shortages supply chains become part of everyday vocabulary. Besides the recent dislocations caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, there are ..read more

It has been over a year since the UK signed its single most important post-Brexit trade instrument – the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with the EU – establishing a framework for the UK relationship with the EU in a wide range of areas. In this episode, we consider the full year of data now available for EU-UK trade in goods in 2021 and assess the impact of the Agreement. Bearing in mind that Covid-19 has ensured that everything has been but business as usual, clear trends are starting to emerge and questions are starting to be asked as to exactly what’s happening and why? Why have the ..read more

The UK signed a bilateral Free Trade Agreement with Australia in December 2021. This is the first ‘new’ Free Trade Agreement (FTA) the UK has negotiated with a trade partner. This ‘world-class’ agreement marks a ‘landmark moment in the historic and vital relationship between our two Commonwealth nations’, according to the international trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan. It’s certainly an ambitious Agreement, for one thing it will remove practically all tariff protection for imports of agricultural products – something which the EU would be very unlikely to have countenanced. But what does ..read more

This episode looks at the climate crisis, and specifically the trade policy response to the push towards net zero in Europe and around the world. A whole market infrastructure has been created in Europe and elsewhere with carbon emission allowances being bought and sold as a way of taxing high-emission producers and providing a financial incentive to encourage more climate-friendly production systems. However, some countries worry that heavy industry might relocate because their climate regulation makes it too expensive to operate. This could be bad for global climate action, as it will result ..read more