Foreign Policy: Support for UK Businesses in Global Trade

Lord Fox Excerpts

Tuesday 14th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, the noble Viscount raises a number of points, partly on ministerial involvement in this process. My noble friend Lady Fairhead, the Minister for UK Export Finance, is conducting a review of our export strategy. This puts finance at the very heart of trade promotions. The Government’s industrial strategy will result in improvements to the support that the DIT can give other firms.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, there are those on the Benches opposite who preach that, in the event of a hard Brexit, the WTO will be our main avenue to trade. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Trump and his team are already degrading the capability of the WTO. Are the Government aware of the actions that are already beginning to reduce the dispute resolution capability of the WTO? What representations are the Government making to the Trump Administration in support of the WTO?

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, as always with our closest ally, the United States, we have continued relations with its Administration. The Prime Minister’s speech in Florence added new momentum to the negotiations by making a firm commitment on the financial settlement and by proposing a time-limited implementation period in the interests of both the UK and the EU. On the points the noble Lord made about the WTO, I will have to write to him on some of the detail, but in leaving the EU we will need to update the terms of our WTO membership because our commitments are currently applied through the collective EU schedules.