Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to reduce barriers to global trade for British businesses.

Removing barriers boosts British exports globally to new and familiar markets. Teams across the Department – both in the UK and oversees – are working tirelessly to do so, opening up exciting new opportunities for British businesses across our four nations. We have an ambitious programme of FTA negotiations, bilateral Joint Economic Trade Committees (JETCOs), Enhanced Trade Partnerships and multiple technical discussions with partner countries to address the barriers that British business raise with us. And our ambition does not stop when a Free Trade Agreement is signed, our regular ongoing trade dialogues with FTA partners provide us with a forum to market access issues and open these markets still further.

Removing our priority trade barriers has the potential to deliver export opportunities to British business worth roughly £20 billion. As a recent example, in July we removed a priority barrier with India through an agreement to recognise each other’s higher education qualifications. This will make UK universities even more appealing to Indian students where the benefits are estimated to be worth over £100,000 per person.