Commentary
With the UK parliament showing little sign of resolving its differences of opinion with itself on the UK’s departure from the EU, the UK government has published a list of customs duties that would apply “temporarily” in the event of a “no-deal“ exit. The government says that under such arrangements 87% of imports to the […]
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Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU create a “policy externality”. That is, their outcome will have effects on third parties that have no direct say in the negotiations. The scope for these externalities increases the more these parties are dependent on the UK and EU for their trade, and the bigger the share […]
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Where the United Kingdom stands now UK politics are in turmoil following the Government’s last-minute decision on 10 December to postpone the House of Commons “meaningful vote” – which had been scheduled for the following day – on the draft UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement and its accompanying Political Declaration on future bilateral relations. Ministers had been […]
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How do you work out a trade deal? If you are a party to one of the 280 or so other free trade agreements (FTAs) in the world[1], your starting point was the commitments you had made at the WTO. This is technically referred to trade on Most Favoured Nation (MFN) terms.[2] You and other […]
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Along with the Irish border, the question of free movement was one of the seemingly intractable questions at the recent EU summit in Salzburg. Put simply the EU does not want to convey the impression that it is possible for the UK – or any other member -to give up a commitment to this key […]
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The resolution of the Irish border question has been presented as one of the trickiest issues to resolve before the UK and the EU can reach agreement on the Withdrawal Agreement between the two. This was underscored at the recent informal EU Council summit at Salzburg, at which the UK described the European Commission’s approach […]
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At the end of its informal meeting held in Salzburg, the president of the EU Council announced that he would like to call a special summit for the weekend of 17/18 November 2018. Its aim would be to allow the EU and the UK to reach an agreement on the terms of the latter’s departure […]
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US and the Iran nuclear deal President Trump is reimposing the full range of United States economic and trade sanctions against Iran following his unilateral decision in May 2018 to pull the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the so-called Iran nuclear deal). That deal was reached with Iran in July 2015 […]
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On 24 July 2018 the United Kingdom submitted to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) draft new national schedules of tariffs and equivalent charges on UK imports of goods, to come into effect when the UK leaves the European Union. Their contents will become public in due course. For now they are confidential to WTO member […]
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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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