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International Trade Blogs
Time for political game-playing over the Irish border to stop
Policy Exchange’s Senior Fellow on EU Affairs Ray Bassett – himself a former senior Irish diplomat – argues that ‘any hard border in the Irish Sea and North/South would hurt Ireland a lot more than it would Britain’ and that Ireland’s interests are more aligned with the UK than EU. Consequently, he says Dublin should drop its efforts to keep Northern Ireland in the Customs Union.
The EU’s own report confirms that the Irish Border issue can be resolved with technology – does this expose other motivations in Dublin and Brussels?
Dr Graham Gudgin – himself a former special adviser to the First Minister of Northern Ireland – finds that the EU’s own research group has identified technological solutions to avoid a ‘hard border’, raising questions about Dublin and Brussels’ intransigence on this issue.
The return of the internationalists? Unpacking Labour’s position on foreign policy.
Last week, Chuka Umunna spoke to Chatham House in a much-needed intervention on the state of British foreign policy.
In recent years, the British foreign policy debate has not kept up with the pace of global political and economic change. For that reason alone, there was much to commend in Umunna’s sense of urgency. To adapt to the challenges of the twenty-first century, as he put it, “we need to look ahead and develop a proper national strategy on the basis of a clear understanding of what our interests are”.
The Realities of a US-UK Free Trade Agreement
In a piece first published by ConservativeHome, Geoff Raby, Policy Exchange’s Head of Trade Policy, contends that while ‘undoubtedly the UK and USA will be able to negotiate a post-Brexit high-quality FTA’, many ‘major unknowns’ remain as yet unresolved.
Britain’s Services Trade Can Flourish Outside of the EU’s Single Market
Geoff Raby — Policy Exchange’s Head of Trade Policy — and Andrew Stoler contend that ‘the reality is that the UK has many realistic options outside the Single Market, and both the UK and EU have much to gain from negotiating a sensible agreement on services’
The Case for Global Trade in an Era of Populist Protectionism: Lessons from New Zealand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUuR3aSakKY Lessons from New Zealand for the UK’s post-Brexit Trade Strategy New Zealand was once Britain’s Farm on the other side of the world. In the 1950s the UK bought almost all of New Zealand’s agricultural exports....
The UK could simultaneously negotiate four or five Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) after Brexit
Geoff Raby — Policy Exchange’s Head of Trade Policy — and Peter Grey discuss processes for negotiating trade agreements
The EU’s Ambiguous Legal Position in the WTO Reduces the Uncertainty over Britain’s Post-Brexit Trading Relationships
Dr Geoff Raby — Policy Exchange’s Head of Trade Policy — concludes that ‘the hurdles at the WTO that worry many may not be so insurmountable after all’
How Feasible are Donald Trump’s Trade Reforms, and What Might Their Impact Be on the US Economy?
Damian Hind, Policy Exchange Economic and Social Policy Research Fellow, examines the campaign promises of the new President-Elect, and the potential trade agenda they may inform
A UK-EU Free Trade Agreement Will Be the Most Unusual in History
Policy Exchange’s Head of Trade Policy contends that ‘making an early and confident start on a broad-based FTA agenda would contribute to lifting business and international confidence in a post-Brexit UK’.