Trade deals are again high on the agenda. On 22nd June, the UK launched formal accession negotiations to join The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
CPTTP is particularly advanced in both digital and services trade, which plays to Britain’s strengths as the world’s second-largest services exporter. UK accession will benefit our economies, including Chile’s, Mexico’s and Peru’s by increasing trade and investment opportunities to help recover and build back from the challenges posed by COVID-19 in the UK and in Latin America. You can find the document detailing the UK’s strategic approach to joining CPTPP available here.
The following calls are still open, don’t miss your chance and one new item to share:
Times remain challenging for colleagues and partners based across LATAC and we do all we can to support and monitor the situation. In spite of this, our team remains dedicated to championing UK-LATAC trade, and for July are pushing through before the expected lull for the UK summer holidays. Please note that the listings below are all in UK time, some are delivered by DIT, those hosted outside of DIT may incur a fee:
Don’t forget that you can view all these and more on our dedicated page for LATAC events: https://bit.ly/2KGETAF
DIT national survey of registered businesses' exporting behaviours, attitudes and needs 2020 was published this month.
The National Survey of Registered Businesses (NSRB) is commissioned by the Department for International Trade (DIT) to monitor businesses’ exporting behaviours, plans, capabilities and attitudes.
Findings include:
The NSRB allocates businesses into one of 4 segments that reflect their exporting behaviour. In 2020, the proportions of businesses falling into each segment were very similar to previous waves.
In 2020:
You may have noticed that UKEF recently launched the Standard Buyer Loan Guarantee which covers a loan to an overseas buyer to finance the purchase of capital goods, services and/or intangibles from a UK supplier.
The Export Academy currently supports businesses in the North of England, Midlands, and the South West with up to £500,000 turnover with expert advice to grow internationally.
We have produced an Export Academy Partner and Stakeholder Toolkit for Partners to use in support of any promotional activity on the Export Academy programme.
Top Takeaways
Round 4 of our negotiations with Australia have concluded positively
Agreement reached with US to suspend trade tariffs for the next 4 months
Launched Global Britain, Local Jobs report with the Board of Trade. Access the report here
Budget 2021
UK’s Largest Virtual Trade Mission
Additional information about the UK-Japan FTA Implementation Campaign – Spring Mission is below – please feel free to share this with your clients.
Wider business support
These resources and tools are available to help businesses navigate our new trading environment:
Championing Trade - upcoming events
A full calendar of DIT and global trade events can be found here.
Responding to the news that fully vaccinated travellers from the EU and US will not have to quarantine, British Chambers of Commerce Co-Executive Director, Claire Walker, said: “For the hundreds of thousands of people directly employed in the travel industry and the many more that are part of supply chains, this will be welcome news."
Responding to yesterday's ONS trade statistics, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “The pandemic and the shift to new trading conditions in how UK companies sell services to the EU have led to a clear reduction in UK-EU services trade compared with 2019. Today’s ONS data release shows services trade with the EU fell at a brisker rate than trade with the rest of the world over the two years to the end of March 2021. Services exports to the EU fell by 14.7% in that period and imports by 38.8%."
While it will be a relief to some businesses in England that select critical workers can be exempt from self-isolation, it will leave many more still facing critical staff shortages and lost revenue as the number of people being asked to isolate remains high.
Responding to the announcement of the new UK approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said: “Businesses in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland need durable, workable, negotiated solutions on compliance with the Protocol to ensure the continued two-way flow of goods East-West and North-South. The UK Government and EU need to work together to find solutions which work for business."
