Global Trade Barriers 2022-03-03
2022-03-03
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Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
There are concerns about the difficulties British businesses face in global markets.
What steps has the Department taken to reduce barriers to global trade for British businesses?
We are negotiating and implementing free trade agreements and removing barriers that British businesses face across the globe. Last financial year, we resolved more than 200 barriers across 74 countries, an increase of 20% on the previous year. We have so far secured FTAs with 70 countries plus the EU, covering nearly £800 billion-worth of bilateral trade in 2020, delivering benefits for communities across the country.
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Q2
Direct Answer
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Context
Businesses in Warrington South face market access barriers.
What steps are the Government taking to reduce market access barriers for businesses in Warrington South and the north-west? What have they done in the past year to help British exporters?
The Department is working hard to reduce barriers to trade, including for my hon. Friend's constituents in Warrington South. For example, we have successfully secured access for British wheat to Mexico, poultry to Japan and lamb to the USA, just to name a few of the barriers that have been removed, boosting food and agriculture among many other products across the globe.
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Q3
Partial Answer
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Context
Business owners report unnecessary hassle and difficulty in exporting to EU markets.
Survey after survey of business owners report unnecessary hassle and difficulty in exporting to European markets, with extra red tape, checks and delays too often the norm. As no one in the Government is getting a grip on this, why does the Secretary of State not get herself down to Dover to understand directly what needs doing to ease the very real difficulties that British businesses face?
We have the export support service, the Export Academy, export champions, international trade advisers in the UK and overseas, agri-commissioners, hundreds of staff focusing on specific sectors, the tradeshow programme, UK Export Finance and trade envoys. The key issue is that in-country, where we find specific issues, we liaise country to country to resolve them.
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Assessment & feedback
visit Dover
Seeing The Glass Half Empty
Response accuracy
Q4
Partial Answer
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Context
There has been a decline in the number of UK businesses exporting goods and services.
The Minister is reeling off figures, but he might want to consider this one: 4,300 fewer businesses in the UK are exporting goods and services than in 2018, according to the Government's own annual stocktake. Why are this Government so anti-trade?
The information is that exports to the EU are now up. Also, the export support service is now proactively contacting those customers who have stopped exporting, because there can be a variety of reasons why people drop off the radar for exporting. Just seeing the glass half empty is not boosting trade in the United Kingdom.
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Assessment & feedback
variety of reasons
Seeing The Glass Half Empty
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Q5
Partial Answer
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The Australian and New Zealand trade deals are affecting farmers negatively.
They are great at talking the talk but not at walking the walk. The European Union will remain Scotland and the UK's largest export market for some time to come, yet this Government have done nothing to remove or even ease non-tariff barriers, bureaucracy or Brexit red tape, and they have not done anything about the labour shortages that are hampering exporters. They have spent the past year decimating the fishing industry and its livelihoods. This year, why are they going after farmers, with the Australia and New Zealand trade deals, already roundly condemned by the farming industry, set to result in floods of cheap, lower-quality meat and dairy products being exported into the UK from around the globe?
We are removing trade barriers. We have already sent poultry to Japan and lamb to the USA. We are working with the Gulf states, increasing halal sales and sales of Welsh lamb. It is simply not true that this country will be flooded with cheap imports. That is pure scaremongering.
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Assessment & feedback
floods of cheap imports
Pure Scaremongering
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