The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
I am pleased to announce that today, 26 June, the Department of Business and Trade has published the UK’s trade strategy, setting out the Government’s plan to maximise trade opportunities to support growth.
Following the publication of the Government’s industrial strategy on Monday, 23 June, which catalyses 10 years of sustained economic growth in our most important sectors and their supply chains and workforces, the trade strategy positions the UK to address the international environment and to be a key influencer on the world stage using free trade, while also reflecting the needs of British businesses in a changing world.
This Government were elected to deliver our plan for change, and, in doing so, to improve the lives of working people and strengthen our country. This included a clear manifesto commitment to publish a strategy that would set out our response to the changing trading environment. This strategy follows our landmark deal with India, the UK-US economic prosperity deal and resetting our relationship with the EU—all of which have been achieved in the first year of the Government.
Having engaged extensively with business, the UK trade strategy is rooted in data and seeks to reflect not only the changing character of the UK economy, but the challenging geoeconomic and geopolitical context of the coming decade. Our trade strategy acknowledges that the structures that we have relied on to be a successful open economy need to adapt to accommodate the changing global trading environment.
Global trade is entering a new era of turbulence, with geopolitical tensions, geoeconomic challenges and technological disruption reshaping the international order. We are witnessing a rise in protectionism, supply chain vulnerabilities and challenges to the multilateral system.
All of these factors necessitate a fresh approach to trade policy. As a services superpower, the UK stands uniquely poised to thrive amid these challenges.
Our trade strategy sets out our prioritisation of markets that present the biggest opportunity to UK businesses, encouraging the use of our varied range of trade policy tools. This will be supported by the new Ricardo fund to help UK regulators remove regulatory barriers for businesses trading abroad.
The trade strategy strengthens our business support, with a particular focus on simplifying and digitalising border processes and introducing measures to protect businesses against economic pressure by strengthening our approach to trade defence: making our trade remedies system more accessible, assertive and agile; reviewing our trade defence instruments; and ensuring businesses are supported by establishing an economic security advisory service.
Finally, the trade strategy outlines how it goes hand-in-hand with our wider Government objectives such as our support to developing countries and our environmental commitments.
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