North East Surrey for Europe: David Henig: “Trade Policy after Brexit”

Trade expert David Henig discusses what is happening to UK Trade outside the Single Market, with significant border barriers to 50% of UK trade which was with the EU?

Will exporters recover from the 40.7% drop in exports to the EU in January?

Register here to join this talk by a leading expert on the development of UK trade policy post Brexit.

David Henig will examine prospects for the UK’s Post-Brexit trade in goods and services with the EU.

How has trade in goods and services with the EU, Britain’s largest trading partner, been affected by Brexit? What are the prospects looking ahead?

Although the Johnson TCA deal is better than a WTO “No Deal” arrangement, being outside the Single Market and Customs Union imposes significant barriers, considering nearly 50% of UK’s export trade was with the EU.

In the main the TCA covers trade in goods alone. Services account for over 40% of UK exports to the EU, yet were largely not covered in the TCA and have still to be negotiated.

Will problems be ironed out or are we facing damaging long-term structural and competitive hurdles in trading with the EU?

Which sectors will be the most affected?

What policy options are available to the UK to mitigate the damage?

How will the level playing field mechanisms work?

How will disputes be settled?

Will the policy-tilt to “Global Britain” enable the UK to compensate for loss of trade with the EU?

Goods exports to the EU plunged by 40.7% in January 2021 as businesses battled with new trading arrangements and red tape following the end of the Brexit transition period. The monthly falls in imports from and exports to the EU are the largest since records began in 1997. In February exports are expected to rise again from this low, as stockpiling unwinds, exporters become more accustomed to the new conditions and the country comes out of Covid.

David Henig is Director of the UK Trade Policy Project at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) – an independent policy think tank dedicated to trade and international economic policy issues: https://ecipe.org/about-us/.

A leading expert on the development of UK trade policy post Brexit, in 2017 he co-founded the UK Trade Forum, which brings together UK trade policy experts to debate and analyse these issues: https://uktradeforum.net/home/about/

After the UK referendum vote, David helped establish the new Department for International Trade, engaging in many of the UK’s first working groups with non-EU countries, and setting out options for engagement with the US.

David started his career before Government in consulting and business development, having graduated in PPE from Oxford University.

You can read his article:

https://ecipe.org/blog/uk-trade-policy-2021/

UK Trade Policy 2021: Good results require better engagement

February 2021

You can watch his talk to Best for Britain here (32 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch

12th January 2021

And read his report here:

“Towards a modern UK-EU trade relationship – Moving beyond the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement”

https://www.bestforbritain.org/2020tradereport

28th December 2020

Bring your questions to David Henig – a trade expert with years of experience in the field.

We look forward to an interesting talk with Q&A via Zoom Chat.

North East Surrey for Europe are organising a series of Zoom talks together with the local action group MoVEM (Mole Valley European Movement).

All those curious about European politics are welcome to join in and learn more about Europe and the Brexit process.

Feel free to email info@nes4eu.co.uk with your questions in advance.

*Please note: By registering for this event, we may use your data to invite you to future North East Surrey for Europe events.*

Please also note the Zoom meeting is open from 7.15pm, but David Henig’s talk is due to start at 7.30pm.

Further details on: www.nes4eu.co.uk.