New Free Trade Agreements 2021-07-15
2021-07-15
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Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
The hon. Member for Harrow West recently asked questions about the progress on negotiating new free trade agreements.
What recent progress has been made on negotiating new free trade agreements?
We now have trade deals with 68 countries around the world, plus the EU, covering trade worth £744 billion last year. Last week, I signed a trade deal with Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. It is one of the new generation of trade deals we are signing, which Britain has struck as an independent trading nation.
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Q2
Partial Answer
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Following a meeting, the questioner urges for negotiations to start on an economic partnership agreement with the Maldives.
While I wholeheartedly congratulate the Government on the agreements negotiated so far, as the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for the Maldives, I urge my hon. Friend to negotiate something slightly different, an economic partnership agreement, with the Maldives Government, which would benefit not only our country but the core industry of sustainable tuna fishing in the Maldives.
I can confirm that I am keen to find a route to short circuit the process of agreeing more trade deals like these with Commonwealth friends around the world.
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Assessment & feedback
The answer did not specify a timeline or concrete steps for starting negotiations on an economic partnership agreement with the Maldives.
Response accuracy
Q3
Partial Answer
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UK exports to Ireland have fallen by 47.6%, and seafood companies in Scotland have seen their costs treble.
Some seafood companies in Scotland have seen their costs of selling to the continent treble from 32p a kilo to about £1 a kilo, and UK exports to Ireland have fallen by 47.6%. For every £490 lost to GDP due to Brexit, trade deals are not bringing in much: Australian deal £2; New Zealand deal £1; America deal £20; Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPA-TPP) between £3 and £8; has the DIT identified any other trade deal that might make up merely 0.1% of GDP, i.e., about £10 for every £490 of Brexit loss? Is there a figure for India yet?
According to the figures I have seen, Orkney Scottish Island cheddar could see its duty reduced by two thirds. There will also be an important new opportunity for fish feed exporters to export tariff-free to Norway—previously high tariffs on fish feed slashed to nought.
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Assessment & feedback
The answer did not address the specific question about trade deals with India or their impact on GDP, focusing instead on a different aspect of trade deals.
Response accuracy