How is environmental protection across the UK safeguarded in post-Brexit legal contexts?
17 March 2023
Chloe Anthony is a Doctoral Researcher and Tutor at the University of Sussex Law School and Legal Researcher for the UK Environmental Law Association, Governance and Devolution Group.
The UK Government and devolved administrations have committed to improving environmental protection post-Brexit. But how do the UK’s new trade agreements impact domestic environmental ambition? And are there legal safeguards against lowering levels of environmental protection? […]
The UK in a World of Green Industrial Strategies
13 March 2023
Emily Lydgate is Reader (Senior Associate Professor) in Environmental Law at University of Sussex School of Law, Politics and Sociology and Deputy Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory
The UKTPO is pleased to re-publish this TaPP Network Workshop Summary, an output of a TaPP workshop in January with speakers Geraldo Vidigal (University of Amsterdam), Emily Lydgate (UKTPO/CITP), Ilaria Espa (USI/WTI), and Greg Messenger (TaPP/University of Bristol). Rather than a blog, this note summarises views of panel participants and the authors. It provides useful insights on the latest developments in this area and policy recommendations for the UK in navigating the new subsidies race between the US and the EU. […]
Briefing Paper 73 – THE CHALLENGES FACING UK FIRMS: TRADE AND SUPPLY CHAINS
New analysis presented in our Briefing Paper, The challenges facing UK firms: Trade and supply chains reveals that UK businesses are struggling with increased costs, labour and skill issues and supply shortages following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
The authors of the Briefing Paper analysed over 2,800 responses to three surveys issued by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), to help produce a long-term perspective on the challenges facing UK businesses. They examine the main challenges and opportunities reported by businesses over 2021 and 2022 and two specific trade-related areas. The first is on the difficulties and advantages for businesses arising from the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The second is on supply chain challenges. The results show that as a result of the TCA, UK businesses are reporting significant difficulties and disadvantages, including increased red tape, bureaucracy and costs as well as shipping and transport issues. Such increases inevitably lead to both shortages of products and rises in prices for the UK public.
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Economic Sanctions: No End to War in Ukraine
24 February 2023
Erika Szyszczak is a Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Professor Emerita of Law at the University of Sussex.
24 February 2022: a date that shook the world as Russian aggression in Ukraine escalated.
The fragility of a strategic democratic state was challenged, alongside exposing the vulnerability of interdependent global supply chains. Thus, it was not surprising that the early response to Russian aggression was in the form of economic sanctions led by the US, the UK and the EU. [1] […]
Is it really true that Brexit has had no harmful effects?
17 February 2023
L. Alan Winters is Co-Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy, Professor of Economics at University of Sussex Business School and Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory.
Given the recent discussions about future UK-EU relations and the review of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) after two years, I have started reading the Brexit literature again. A recent paper – ‘What impact is Brexit having on the UK economy?’ by Graham Gudgin, Julian Jessop and Harry Western (GJW) from October 2022 argues there is no hard evidence of harm and that studies that claim to find harm are biased and/or incompetent! In this blog, I consider a few of their points in four areas. […]
Two years since the TCA came into force: What has happened to UK-EU trade?
10 February 2023
Guillermo Larbalestier is Research Assistant in International Trade at the University of Sussex and Fellow of the UKTPO. Nicolo Tamberi is Research Officer in Economics at the University of Sussex and Fellow of UKTPO.
Today, HMRC have released UK trade data for 2022, which we can use to assess UK-EU trade two years after the introduction of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). […]
The Effect of SDG-related Provisions in PTAs on SDGs
14 December 2022
Ruby Acquah and Mattia Di Ubaldo are Fellows of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Research Fellows in Economics at the University of Sussex Business School. This blog was originally published by Trade 4 Sustainable Development.
The Role of Non-trade Provisions in PTA’s in Attaining the SDGs.
Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) are being increasingly used as a tool to pursue various non-trade policy objectives such as the protection of human rights and labour rights, the promotion of environmental sustainability, and combating climate change. […]
Is the golden age of Free Trade Agreements over?
7 December 2022
Emily Lydgate, Reader in Environmental Law at University of Sussex and Deputy Director of the UKTPO [1]
Figures from the World Trade Organization suggest that the negotiation of new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) peaked in 2008, and has since declined.[2] Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has disavowed FTAs. The UK emerged post-Brexit as an enthusiastic advocate, responsible for much of the 2020 outlying peak in WTO FTA notifications. However, even in the UK, the Trade Secretary recently said: ‘I would like us to move away from the DIT being seen as the Department for Free Trade Agreements and back to the Department for International Trade.’
Having created a so-called spaghetti bowl of FTAs, are the wealthy countries that have driven most FTA negotiations[3] finally running out of noodles? […]
Briefing Paper 72 – PREFERENCE UTILISATION IN THE TCA: HOW ARE WE DOING?
This Briefing Paper compares the preference utilisation rates (PURs) of both the UK and EU imports under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. PURs tell us the amount of eligible imports that come in tariff-free (that is, preference eligible in a free trade agreement, the extent to which preferences are being used) and allow for the evaluation of the effectiveness of a trade agreement. We find that the utilisation of preferential tariffs differs between the EU and the UK. EU exporters are utilising preferences more than UK exporters and UK exporters tend to use preferences more where the value of trade is larger. The Paper analyses the distribution of PURs across products and composition issues to identify reasons for low utilisation rates.
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Briefing Paper 71 – IDENTIFYING SENSITIVE AND STRATEGIC SECTORS
Policy discussions about the effects and opportunities of international trade recognise that some parts of the economy might be more sensitive than others to changes in trade and/or trade policy, but the concept of a sensitive industry has different meanings. In our Briefing Paper, Identifying sensitive and strategic sectors, we aim to provide a conceptual framework for considering the factors that could identify industries that may be sensitive or strategic from a trade perspective; to review the range of information that can identify these factors; and to illustrate the ways in which this information can be usefully applied.
Accompanying the Briefing Paper is a spreadsheet file with the underlying indicators and some tools of analysis which we hope will be of use and interest to some readers. The spreadsheet also includes detailed information about data sources and any data adjustments made.
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