International Trade Secretary, will use a speech at Bloomberg
tomorrow (27 February) to set out the UK’s trading position when
the country leaves the European Union.
He is expected to say:
The pattern of trade is changing:
“We cannot allow the practices and patterns of the past to
constrain the opportunities of the future.”
“… the pattern of our trade is changing. 57% of Britain’s exports
of goods and services are now to outside the EU compared with
only 44% in 2005. What is more, while our EU exports are still
dominated by goods, our non-EU exports are evenly split between
goods and services.”
“Our approach should not be premised on simply identifying how
much of our current relationship we want to keep, but what we
need to prosper in a rapidly changing global environment.”
Disadvantages of remaining in a customs union
“First of all, for goods, we would have to accept EU trade rules
without any say in how they were made, handing Brussels
considerable control of the UK’s external trade policy.”
“Secondly, it would limit our ability to reach new trade
agreements with the world’s fastest-growing economies.”
“And thirdly, it would limit our ability to develop our trade and
development policies that would offer new ways for the world’s
poorest nations to trade their way out of poverty.”
“As rule takers, without any say in how the rules were made, we
would be in a worse position than we are today. It would be a
complete sell out of Britain’s national interests.”
“A customs union would remove the bulk of incentives for other
countries to enter into comprehensive free trade agreements with
the UK if we were unable to alter the rules in whole sectors of
our economy, as Turkey has now discovered.”
“The inevitable price of trying to negotiate with one arm tied
behind our back is that we would become less attractive to
potential trade partners and forfeit many of the opportunities
that would otherwise be available to us.”
Future global trade will not be determined through rigid trading
mechanisms
“There is a tendency among some nations to cling to the ‘known’
trading mechanisms more suited to the structures of the past than
the digital age of the future.”
“Flexibility and agility, then, are the key to any future trade
policy. The ability to react quickly to new developments, to
explore new opportunities and to nurture fledgling industries
that will be the key to growth and prosperity in the coming
years.”
“That is why my Department is pursuing a more flexible approach
to our country’s trading future.
“We will consider multi-country alliances of the like-minded
right down to bilateral arrangements …
“To do this, we need the ability to exercise a fully independent
trade policy. We have to maximise overall trading opportunities
for the UK and secure the prosperity of our people.”
