Commentary

Trade Policy Lessons from Covid 19

The Covid 19 pandemic has had a severe impact on international trade . The WTO recently projected that global trade could fall in real terms by upto 20% in 2020. A modest recovery could take place in 2021, but this is heavily dependent on the future course of Covid 19, measures taken in response, and […]

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EU-UK: The Chips Are Down

    International trade in goods, Trade services, Professional services brexit, brexit professional services, brexit network, trade expertise, trade expertise network, Trade knowledge, trade knowedge exchange, trade compliance, trade tools, barriers to international trade, effects of tariffs, brexit trade, brexit trade deals, post brexit trade deals, post-brexit trade deals, brexit trade, brexit trade deals, trade after brexit, brexit trade agreements, brexit analysis, trade analysis,

    Introduction – a dialogue of opposites During the last week of February the European Union Council of Ministers formally endorsed the draft mandate which the European Commission had submitted, setting out objectives for a new long-term relationship with the United Kingdom.  A few days later the UK Government published a White Paper specifying its own […]

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    A tricky triangle: the UK’s negotiation positions for FTAs with the US and the EU

      The UK has published, in quick succession, its negotiating position for free trade agreements with, respectively, the European Union and the United States. It is an ambitious project. Few countries have attempted parallel bilateral negotiations with both the US and the EU simultaneously. Substantial differences between these two parties, especially on key issues of regulation, […]

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      The elusive notion of “a level playing field”

        International trade in goods, Trade services, Professional services brexit, brexit professional services, brexit network, trade expertise, trade expertise network, Trade knowledge, trade knowedge exchange, trade compliance, trade tools, barriers to international trade, effects of tariffs, brexit trade, brexit trade deals, post brexit trade deals, post-brexit trade deals, brexit trade, brexit trade deals, trade after brexit, brexit trade agreements, brexit analysis, trade analysis,

        “Level playing-field” has become one of the most commonly used phrases in international trade. It has been used for example, between the United States and China in their current series of trade disputes.   It crops up regularly between the United Kingdom and the European Union in the context of negotiating a long-term economic and trade […]

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        Doing free trade agreements as if policy really matters

          At the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos,  US Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Mnuchin expressed his optimism that a UK-US free trade agreement could be signed by the end of 2020. Noting that the UK was also negotiating with the EU, he said he was a little bit disappointed that US had not been […]

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          Old wine, newish wineskin? Initial reflections on the revised UK-EU withdrawal agreement and political declaration

            The EU flag and the UK flag. Post-Brexit Trade.

            The European Commission (EC) and the UK Government reached an agreement,  on 17 October 2019,  on modifications to the Withdrawal Agreement and accompanying Political Declaration they had first concluded in November 2018, but which failed to pass UK parliament.  The modifications are less revisions than they are a form of recalibration on the way various […]

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