Introduction The UK Government’s long-awaited White Paper setting out a negotiating position on post-Brexit trade and other relations with the European Union was published on July 12 2018. Previous Government statements on these issues mostly expressed generalised aspirations for the UK’s future relations with the Union and with other trade partners world-wide. The White Paper […]
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We present the main points discussed by Professor L Alan Winters, Lord O’Donnell and Amar Breckenridge at a Trade Knowledge Exchange Webinar on 20 July. A full recording of the session can be accessed here. 1. A grand political bargain The White Paper is a negotiating text in two ways. Firstly, it sets out the […]
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Throughout the Brexit process an eventual “No deal” situation has been held out to the public of the United Kingdom variously as a horror scenario or as a launch-pad for future national development. The prospects of a “No deal” outcome, and the conflicting views as to what it means, have been expressed with considerable force […]
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The White Paper released by the UK Government on 12 July 2018 deals primarily with the UK’s relationship to the EU. In keeping with previous statements and papers, it seeks a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU. But it also sets out the UK’s ambition to develop its own independent trade policy […]
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In its recently released White Paper on the future relationship between the EU and UK, the government has committed to developing an independent regime for trade remedies. It has also committed to examining the current EU regime for trade remedies, in order to identify which elements in that regime should be carried over by the […]
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Twenty-eight years after they last managed it, England have made the semi-final of football’s World Cup. England’s match against the then West Germany in Turin in July 1990, came in the middle of a tumultuous time for Europe. The Berlin wall had recently come down, and German reunification was on the horizon. This time round, […]
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What role can the UK carve out for itself in global trade policy after leaving the EU? It will be able to speak with an “independent” and “distinctive” voice, will relentlessly push the case for free trade and multilateralism, and will strive to ensure that everyone is able to access the benefits of trade. That, […]
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There are four months to go until the European Union’s October 2018 deadline for finalisation of a Brexit withdrawal agreement which can be put to the member states for ratification, and nine months until March 29 2019 when the UK, according to its withdrawal notification, will cease to be a member state. Meanwhile the complexity […]
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With the UK and the EU reaching the sharp end of their negotiations on future arrangements, resolving the question of how these should be structured has become ever more pressing. Summarising in fairly general terms, the UK government is split between those who favour prioritising deep integration with EU, and those who, on the other […]
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Emmanuel Macron has an appetite for big challenges. Not content with trying to rescue the Paris Agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, and stare down waves of strikes at home, he now wants to completely overhaul the WTO. His call came at an OECD forum, at the end of which the United States pointedly refused to […]
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