Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps the Government has put in place to ensure trade policy is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The UK has long supported the promotion of our values globally and this will continue as we leave the EU. We want to ensure economic growth and development go hand in hand. We are exploring all options in the design of future trade and investment agreements including sustainable development provisions within these taking into account responses to the government consultation.

An aspiration in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is tariff-free access for Least Developed Countries trading into developed country markets which we have cemented in UK legislation through the Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act 2018.

It also remains our priority to replicate the effects of the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) as the UK exits the EU. The UK has signed EPAs with Eastern and Southern Africa States, Pacific States and CARIFORUM States.