Nick Phipps, Author at UKTPO

Foreign Investment as a Stepping Stone for Services Trade

11 June 2020 Dr Ingo Borchert is Senior Lecturer in Economics and Julia Magntorn Garrett is a Research Officer in Economics at the University of Sussex. Both are fellows of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. Since the beginning of the pandemic, attention has shifted away from the economic implications of Brexit and towards what a post-COVID economy might look like. This is understandable, yet by now it looks as if a hard Brexit might be just around the corner. Last week the fourth round of negotiations between the UK and the EU ended without visible progress, and the Government has repeatedly ruled out an extension to the transition period. Thus, in spite of the continuing impact of COVID-related restrictions, it seems warranted to put back into focus some features of the UK economy that are likely to change after the transition period has ended. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-06-11T09:31:48+01:0011 June 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

When State Aid Gets Political

8 June 2020 Professor Erika Szyszczak is Professor Emerita and a Fellow of UKTPO, University of Sussex. Control over state aid is a stumbling block for the future of a EU-UK trade agreement. The EU is seeking dynamic alignment of any future UK state aid rules. This is a bold demand, especially since the EU state aid rules will be in a state of flux in the forthcoming years. But if no agreement is reached there are implications for domestic UK policy. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-06-09T10:40:58+01:009 June 2020|UK- EU|0 Comments

Companies should prepare for increased costs, bureaucracy and border checks for their Northern Ireland business

05 June 2020 Businesses should expect more paperwork, bureaucracy and additional costs on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain when the transition period ends in seven months’ time. The UK’s recently published Command Paper highlights significant differences between the UK and the EU and does not fully address the challenges which come from the special situation around that border, warns our latest Briefing Paper – The unresolved difficulties of the Northern Ireland Protocol – co-authored by Prof Michael Gasiorek and Dr Anna Jerzewska. The paper highlights several areas where the UK’s interpretation of what was previously agreed appears to differ from the EU’s position. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-06-05T10:00:00+01:005 June 2020|UK- EU|0 Comments

Policymakers must resist kneejerk changes to supply chains and global trade policy in the wake of COVID-19

29 May 2020 Policymakers should resist the urge to make kneejerk and wholesale changes to supply chains and global trade policy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, an economist with the UK Trade Policy Observatory has warned. Professor Michael Gasiorek, a trade policy expert at the University of Sussex Business School, is advising governments against making trade policy responses to the Coronavirus crisis which could have longer-lasting and potentially negative implications in the post-pandemic future for the global trading system. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-05-29T09:16:20+01:0029 May 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

Building Supply Chain Resilience: a reflection on ‘Project Defend’ and the reshoring of manufacturing

28 May 2020 Sam Roscoe is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and Research Leader for the Supply Chain 4.0 Hub at the University of Sussex. He is an Associate Fellow of the UKTPO. Boris Johnson has drawn up plans (codenamed Project Defend) to reduce the UK’s reliance on foreign countries for products that are deemed critical to the wellbeing of the nation. This follows a recent Fox News interview with President Donald Trump, who said “these stupid supply chains that are all over the world…..we should have them all in the United States”. And, a recent article from The Economist (May 16th-22nd, 2020) that declared the end of globalisation, noting that the push to bring supply chains back home in the name of resilience is accelerating. Indeed, the pandemic has exposed that global supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link and is prompting a move from low-cost, overseas production towards the localisation of manufacturing. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-05-28T09:54:04+01:0028 May 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|1 Comment

COVID-19 will reinforce the Brexit shock

27 May 2020 L. Alan Winters CB is Professor of Economics and Director of the UKTPO. Mattia Di Ubaldo is a Research Fellow in the Economics of European Trade Policies, and Palitha Konara is a Senior Lecturer in International Business at the University of Sussex. Both are Fellows of the UKTPO. COVID-19 and Brexit may appear as independent shocks but, in fact, they are interrelated. First, as the UKTPO and many others have argued, because COVID has disrupted the preparation for and conduct of negotiations on the future UK-EU trading arrangements, the UK government should ask for an extension to the transition period. This would allow the UK and EU to work out details of mutual cooperation that will be beneficial on both sides of the channel. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-05-27T12:47:07+01:0027 May 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

Environment and climate change in the EU-UK negotiations: Arguing the toss over nothing

26 May 2020 Dr Emily Lydgate is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of Sussex and a Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. The fundamental difference between the EU and UK positions on environment and climate is that of tradition (in the UK) versus innovation (in the EU). In fact tradition is somewhat of an understatement – the UK has made good on its aspiration for a ‘Canada-style’ deal by copying the environment chapter from that Agreement in its proposed EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) more or less verbatim. This chapter is relatively mild in the level of obligation it imposes. It requires parties to uphold and enforce their own domestic environmental laws, but only if failing to do so would encourage trade and investment. Violation of this commitment does not lead to trade sanctions or fines. This raises some questions. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-05-26T13:38:27+01:0026 May 2020|UK- EU|0 Comments

Reflections on the UK Global Tariff: good in principle, but perhaps not for relations with the EU

21 May 2020 Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and Julia Magntorn Garrett is a Research Officer in Economics at the University of Sussex. Both are Fellows of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. Let’s start at the very beginning… Suppose a country was (more or less) starting from scratch with its trade policy, and anticipated wanting to sign future trade agreements with other countries. What might you want from that country’s tariff structure? At the end of the day it is important to remember that tariffs are discriminatory taxes (i.e. they discriminate against foreign suppliers) which reduce competition, distort markets and lower national welfare. So, aiming to get to low (zero) tariffs is a good objective. But there may also be some other considerations. Here are some guidelines: […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-05-21T15:06:50+01:0021 May 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

New tariff on the block: What is in the UK’s Global Tariff?

20 May 2020 L. Alan Winters CB is Professor of Economics and Director of the Observatory, Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and Julia Magntorn Garrett is a Research Officer in Economics at the University of Sussex. Both are Fellows of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. On Tuesday 19th May the UK’s ‘Global Tariff’ was published. These are the tariffs that will apply on any products that the UK imports on a Most Favoured Nation (MFN) basis from the end of the transition period when the UK is no longer bound by the EU’s Common External Tariff. The published tariffs come after a public consultation on the subject was held in February this year. This note summarises how the new tariff compares to the UK’s current MFN tariffs (which are also the rates that the UK has bound in the WTO for after the transition period) and outlines what has changed since the tariff consultation. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-05-20T15:07:55+01:0020 May 2020|UK- EU|16 Comments

The Unfinished Business of the Northern Ireland Protocol

7 May 2020 Dr Anna Jerzewska is an independent customs and trade consultant, and Associate Fellow of the UKTPO. While the world battles the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK Government’s decision not to request an extension to the transition period means that the UK and the EU have only eight months until 31st December 2020 to complete the talks on the future trading relationship. If a trade deal is not agreed by 1 January 2021 the Northern Ireland Protocol will take effect. The Protocol, which forms part of the Withdrawal Agreement, determines how the Irish border will work in the absence of agreement at the end of the transition period. A Joint Committee, a body established within the Withdrawal Agreement, is charged with, amongst other things, deciding how the Protocol will be implemented. The deadline for making these decisions is therefore fast approaching. […]

By Nick Phipps|2020-05-07T10:52:43+01:007 May 2020|UK- EU|3 Comments

About Nick Phipps

Foreign Investment as a Stepping Stone for Services Trade

When State Aid Gets Political

Companies should prepare for increased costs, bureaucracy and border checks for their Northern Ireland business

Policymakers must resist kneejerk changes to supply chains and global trade policy in the wake of COVID-19

Building Supply Chain Resilience: a reflection on ‘Project Defend’ and the reshoring of manufacturing

COVID-19 will reinforce the Brexit shock

Environment and climate change in the EU-UK negotiations: Arguing the toss over nothing

Reflections on the UK Global Tariff: good in principle, but perhaps not for relations with the EU

New tariff on the block: What is in the UK’s Global Tariff?

The Unfinished Business of the Northern Ireland Protocol

Partners