International Trade Flashcards
EU
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member countries, most of whom have adopted a common currency (Euro). They have established a single market within which there is freedom of movement of goods, services and people.
Institutions the UK will have to negotiate with after Brexit
Commonwealth:
A group of 55 countries and it began when those countries were ruled by Britain. Current membership is optional. The UK trade with the Commonwealth is heavily focused on five countries – Australia, Canada, India, Singapore and South Africa.
The UK exports to the Commonwealth were worth £65.2 billion, which is 9.3% of the country’s total exports.
WTO:
An intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade between nations.
The World Trade Organisation’s role is to reduce trade barriers around the globe to make it flow smoothly. It is closely linked to the idea of globalisation, a process to increase the trading of goods across borders.
The European Commission is the EU’s executive body and will negotiate on behalf of the EU. It has set up a Task Force for Relations with the UK
The European Council The European Council gathers the heads of state and government of all 27 EU countries. They meet at least four times a year to discuss the EU’s priorities, which will include ongoing UK–EU negotiations.
The European Parliament is the only directly-elected EU institution comprising 705 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) elected by citizens of the 27 member states. It will scrutinise and vote on the deal – it could also suggest amendments. It has set up a UK co-ordination group, which will meet regularly with the Commission’s Task Force.
Key issues raised by Brexit
Loss of freedom of movement
Access to the single market
The rights of EU citizens in UK/UK citizens in the EU
Controversy around access to fishing in UK waters
EU alignment - the EU wants the UK to stick particularly closely to EU rules on things like workers’ rights, environmental regulations and particularly state aid (financial assistance given by government to businesses).
Brexiteers argue for the need to break free from following common rules.
The Good Friday Agreement and issues with a hard border on the island of Ireland
Financial regulation fragmentation: banks moved to Paris
Trade: “The latest evidence suggests that Brexit has had a significant adverse impact on UK trade, via reducing both overall trade volumes and the number of trading relationships between UK and EU firms,” the OBR said in its latest economic and fiscal outlook, published alongside last month’s budget.
Free trade definition & examples
Trade between countries which is free from tariffs, quotas or other restrictions.
Since leaving the EU, the government has signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Australia and New Zealand.
The UK is set to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The UK government announced on 31 March 2023 that it had ‘substantially concluded negotiations on the UK’s accession’ to the CPTPP trade agreement.
Canada: Building on the benefits of the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement (2021), the new Free Trade Agreement will go further than ever before in areas like innovation, digital, data, the environment and women’s economic empowerment.
Ongoing talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (a grouping of six middle eastern countries headquartered in Saudi Arabia)
A deal with Japan was signed in October 2020. It was the first that differed from the existing EU trade deal.
An agreement with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein was announced in June 2021 and builds on the previous agreement the UK had with these countries.
Talks with India began in early 2022, although no deal has yet been reached.
After months of negotiation - which went down to the wire - a UK-EU trade deal came into force on 1 January 2021.
The deal prevented any tariffs and quotas being introduced - which would have made it more expensive to trade between the two partners.
