David Henig

There is a paradox in the global debate about trade. It has never been easier to trade internationally, but global trade is poorly understood. Consumers can go to a platform like eBay, choose a product from another country, pay and await arrival, often instant for a service. Yet when world leaders debate trade openness and restrictions, they often sound as if nothing had changed in real trade for the past hundred years. The debate is still centred on tariffs, and...

The UK’s road to an independent trade policy has reached a critical moment. Within the next six months Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) containing long term arrangements and rules could be finalised with the United States and / or European Union, who between them constitute around 65% of UK trade. Talks have also started with Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Our updated Trade Policy Readiness Assessment suggests that the UK government is not fully ready for this...

There is an urgent need to move on from the shock of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, and all the melodrama in the past two years over what form Brexit should take, and focus on building a new relationship between the UK and EU including Member States such as Sweden. Trade and political relationships face change, but there is much that can be done to make sure that negative effects are temporary, and that we find a stable future path. Both the EU and...

There are few issues that cause more controversy in international trade policy than agriculture. The EU’s overall agriculture policy, including domestic support, tariffs, and Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs), are an ongoing irritant with trade partners. The UK government has spoken of being more liberal. This is the context for the UK’s first international trade negotiation since the Brexit vote, to set our future WTO schedules, including calculating our TRQs....