Tuesday , March 19 2024

Tag Archives: International Trade

Post COVID, post Brexit reconstruction

The UK is facing an exciting future as a result of Brexit.  We have a golden opportunity to configure the UK as a business entity that benefits its workers and hence the population of Britain. Now that we are freed from many rules about government intervention and “level playing fields” …

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Kissing the Barnier Stone

Michel Barnier gained attention over his public summary of Brexit negotiations. Whilst progress has been made in some areas, the blame for stumbling blocks was firmly laid at the door of the British government. Where do we go from here? On the other hand, the UK negotiator, David Frost took …

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Why is there a lack of PPE? PPE and Public Sector Contracts.

Journalists have been having fun at the government’s expense on the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) issue but what is actually happening? Why haven’t UK manufacturers been engaged to cope with the shortfall?  The answer seems to lie with NHS purchasing. The NHS has demonstrated true public sector flair by reducing …

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Self-Reflection in the Age of Self-Isolation

Brent Cameron is a Senior Advisor with Concierge Strategies, and a local councillor in Ontario, Canada. The second edition of Brent H. Cameron’s book, “The Case for Commonwealth Free Trade: Options for a new globalization” is available now on Amazon worldwide. Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates was quoted as saying something …

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Could Scotland join the EU?

The UK is now definitely going to leave the EU. What does this mean for an independent Scotland joining the EU? 1. Political union. Scotland would have to promise to accept the aims of the EU. The EU aims to achieve monetary, fiscal and political union. It might have been …

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The EU is useless at negotiating Free Trade Agreements

The Remain campaign, both before and after the referendum, have long argued that being part of the European Union’s Single Market and Custom’s Union benefits our non-EU trade. They argue that we benefit from the “clout” of being part of a large bloc, that goes around the world negotiating multiple …

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A Mother’s Wisdom

What happened to the debate about a Deal? In the hive of activity surrounding Prorogation, what a “good” Brexit deal would look like has seemingly been left by the wayside as politicians argue between ‘No Brexit’ and ‘No-Deal Brexit’.  While much can be said about the Prime Minister’s decision to …

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Movement of Goods after a No Deal Brexit

UK ports imported 248m tonnes of produce and exported 138m tonnes in 2017. (See UK Port Freight Statistics 2017). Click to enlarge. Dover was responsible for only 26m tonnes of the total 386m tonnes of international freight transported in 2017. Top 10 major ports + All other tonnage Dover moved 15.5m …

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Global Economy on the Rocks?

This article was written 30th April 2019, let it not be said that no-one could have foreseen the coming difficulties. The most worrying indicator is global trade volume: This has had the expected effect on global industrial production: Notice that the downturn is affecting all economic regions this time around.  …

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The Customs Union provides no benefit to UK trade.

In May 2004, the European Union underwent its single largest expansion to date. The “A10 countries”, consisting of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia all became part of EU and all its institutions, including the Customs Union and Single Market. The addition of …

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Brexit tariff reduction

News has broken that in the event of “No Deal”, up to 90 % of tariffs will be removed. Confirmation seems to have come from a refusal to deny from Greg Clark, Business Secretary. Naturally, views have been expressed, from all political vantage points. The opposition can be expected to …

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Brexit is not to blame for Honda moving out of the UK. The EU is.

February 2019, Honda announced that it would wind down operations at its Swindon plant in the UK, halting production completely by 2021. Remainers seized on this piece of news as evidence that Brexit was hurting the economy, and causing jobs and companies to flee the UK. The Senior Vice President for Honda …

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The Commonwealth Option

This letter originally fully appeared in the magazine National Review and an abridged version appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 6 December 2018. The Prime Minister’s proposed Brexit deal has been discussed in detail, and to describe it would replicate the excellent work of many journalists. However, we feel that it has …

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We need to talk about China

China is now the richest country in the world in terms of the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) measure of GDP.  Its towns are modern tower blocks, its motorways are enormous and full of traffic and its factories are booming.  It has almost five times the population of the USA. On …

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No Surrender!

Another day, another cave by Theresa May. Today, it appears that Theresa May is willing to keep the entire UK bound in perpetuity to the EU Customs Union.  It also appears the Prime Minister has plans to betray her allies in the DUP and Northern Ireland by having EU regulations …

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Why Trade Deficits Must be Avoided

I have just finished reading yet another article on how Trade Deficits are harmless or even good for a country (The Trade Deficit Matters, But Not How You Think by Jeffrey Dorfman). Trade deficits happen when a country imports more than it exports, the excess imports need to be purchased …

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