David Henig
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +44 79 50 099 059
Areas of Expertise: European Union EU Single Market EU Trade Agreements North-America Services WTO and Globalisation

David Henig is Director of the UK Trade Policy Project. A leading authority on the development of UK Trade Policy post Brexit, he places this in the context of developments in EU and global trade policy on which he also researches and writes.
David joined ECIPE in 2018 having worked on trade and investment issues for the UK Government for a number of years, in particular engaging extensively on US-EU talks around the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, on global issues around the US and China, and latterly helping to establish a UK trade policy capability after the 2016 Brexit referendum. He also writes a regular column for the online trade policy professionals news service Borderlex, advises a Parliamentary committee and the UK Trade and Business Commission, and appears regularly in media and at events to discuss latest developments. During the most intense phases of Brexit, he established with a number of other UK specialists a network of expertise under the UK Trade Forum banner.
Prior to working in Government, David worked in consulting and business development, having graduated from Oxford University. Collectively all of this experience is brought together in the project examining and evaluating the UK’s performance in preparing for and delivering effective trade policy.
ECIPE Policy Briefs
Negotiating Uncertainty in UK-EU Relations: Past, Present, and Future
Ten key points to negotiating the UK-EU relationship Europe has been weakened by difficult UK-EU relations at a time of international challenge. Eight years after the Brexit referendum a new UK government and European Commission provides a good opportunity to reset approaches and put obstructions aside. Too big for either side to ignore, this will always be an important, time-consuming, and slightly chaotic relationship – which thus needs a much firmer footing...
ECIPE Policy Briefs
Building a Mature UK Trade Policy
Global Britain has not delivered according to the hopes expressed by supporters of leaving the EU. Trade with the rest of the world has not grown to make up for leaving a bloc with seamless trade, early Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand are of minor economic significance, and it is hard to discern much of a strategy beyond completing a few more similar deals. Meanwhile the world of trade policy is transformed since 2016, negatively. The US...
New Globalisation
The New Globalisation: SMEs and International Trade – The Supply Chain is as Important as Direct Exports
The disproportionately small share of exports from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is a cause of concern in modern trade policy. For developed countries, they typically account for over 95% of all businesses, two-thirds of the labour force, yet less than 50% of economic activity, and under a third of total export value. There is a compelling global narrative which argues we are missing a major economic opportunity. Conventional policy responses have been to...
UK Project
Time for Fresh Thinking on Northern Ireland and Brexit
The Good Friday / Belfast Agreement became, with considerable efforts over several years from so many involved, a broadly accepted if never fully stable political framework for Northern Ireland. A year after implementation, the prospect of the Northern Ireland Protocol delivering similar results is diminishing. Instead, there is a risk it entrenches divisions in which all sides believe others, not themselves, must be the ones to compromise most. Such divisions...
Media Mention
Reeves opens door to cutting US car import tariffs in UK trade talks
David Henig mentions how the US might receive special treatment in an FTA with the UK for the Financial Times.
Media Mention
China warns UK against ‘politicising’ steel furnaces rescue
David Henig speaks about the politicisation of UK's rescue of Chinese-owned British Steel via Agence France-Presse.
Media Mention
Starmer urged to accelerate global trade deals after Trump tariff chaos
David Henig urges UK to prioritise global norms over US trade deal via The Independent.
Media Mention
What is the Mar-a-Lago Accord and could it explain Donald Trump’s tariff chaos?
David Henig comments in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about his doubts on Trump's tariffs signal strategy as the White House lacks capacity.
Article
Perspectives – De minimis: European politicians forget consumers, SMEs
David Henig writes his "Perspectives" column for Borderlex about how de minimis reforms risk harming SMEs, consumers, favoring large EU businesses.
Article
Progress made ahead of UK-EU Summit
David Henig writes for the UK Trade & Business Commission on how UK-EU relations are progressing ahead of the May summit.
Article
Perspectives: Brussels needs to convene a Conversation of the Willing
David Henig writes his Perspectives column for Borderlex on how Trump's trade pause demands EU leadership to restore global trade rules.
Article
How Trump’s tariffs threaten UK identity
David Henig writes for CGTN on the UK faces challenge balancing US ties, EU trade, public scepticism.
Book or Paper
Northern Ireland’s Triple Treaty Trade Ambiguity
David Henig writes for the Centre for Cross Border Studies on the ambiguity around Northern Ireland's future trade status
Speech or Presentation
What cards does China hold?
David Henig talks at BBC's The Briefing Room about Trump-China trade war escalating.
Speech or Presentation
Trump ‘doesn’t necessarily believe in a win-win deal’
David Henig speaks with Sky's Mark Austin about a possible US-UK trade deal.
Speech or Presentation
Turbulent times for trade: what it means for the UK
David Henig unpacks the shifting global trade landscape and tells us what it means for the UK’s economic and political strategy in an interview with Cavendish.
Speech or Presentation
Trump’s tariffs prompt backlash against U.S. goods
David Henig talks with CGTN Europe about the potential effects of Donald Trump's tariffs on the US.