Knowledge
The theory Paul Krugman once wrote that if there were ever to be an Economists’ Creed, its first two points would be: (i) I believe in free trade and (ii) I understand the principle of comparative advantage. The latter supports the former. The theory predicts that countries are better off if they specialise in goods […]
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During the run-up to the UK referendum on European Union membership in June 2016 the difficulties which Brexit might cause in political, economic and administrative relations between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic were recognised, but not seriously considered. Since then the issue of Brexit and the Irish border – how to avoid creating some […]
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Model Behaviour: Understanding some recent debates on the UK’s trade prospects after Brexit. Brexit has managed to make trade modelling trendy. Perhaps that’s an exaggeration. But at least it has brought it out of the academic journals and into the broadsheets. The latest sparring has seen claims that the civil service’s trade modelling is unduly […]
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US-UK Trade: what’s in IT? At the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos in January 2018 President Trump forecast a “tremendous” increase in trade between the US and the United Kingdom, presumably following Brexit. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that the UK would be at the head of the queue for a new trade […]
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UK-China Trade: Eastern Promise? UK-China trade has featured highly on Theresa May’s visit to China. The Prime Minister hopes that by the end of her sojourn, a further £9 billion in commercial deals will have been secured between UK and Chinese businesses. Trade with China is a small but important part of the UK’s overall […]
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If Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne makes New Year’s resolutions, he’s probably thinking work-wise of trying to find a new approach to implementing his progressive trade agenda. Decoupling this agenda from his trade negotiations strategy and focusing on other trading partners will open up new opportunities with better prospects for success. Canada successfully negotiated a progressive […]
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The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2015) in Malta on November 27-29 provides a unique opportunity for the new Liberal government to launch a comprehensive trade and development strategy as a defining feature in its commitment to re-engage in the world. Canada has proportionally more trade and development linkages with Commonwealth countries than any […]
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Authors: Rosemina Z. Nathoo & Phil Rourke Canada Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne and his officials have been busy. In the last two weeks alone, we saw exploratory free trade talks with China, the launch of consultations on Canada’s relations with Brazil and its Mercosur partners, internal work to modernize an already solid FTA with […]
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Authors: David Luke & Phil Rourke. The arrival of President-elect Donald Trump threw the Liberal Government’s trade strategy off balance. The recent reshuffling of Cabinet and the now laser-like focus on the United States, Canada’s most important commercial relationship, confirmed the need for a reboot. The first casualty of the change in strategy is […]
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This paper explores the nature of the UK’s WTO commitments and how they might impact the UK from the date of its exit from the EU.
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