It’s almost two years since I arrived out here in DC in the summer of 2009. The weather’s the same – hot and humid. But trade politics have got a lot more exciting. Many eyes are avidly watching what is happening on the Hill concerning the pending US FTAs with Korea, Colombia and Panama. It’s a bit of a nail biter.
But on the other side of the Atlantic today, 1 July, the EU’s FTA with South Korea kicks in, eliminating over 98% of tariffs, worth £16bn to EU exporters, and likely to double EU-Korea trade in 20 years. Bilateral UK/Korea trade is already worth £10bn a year, but this FTA will boost UK exporters’ economic benefits by a further half a billion pounds, in areas like legal and financial services, pharmaceuticals, advanced engineering, low carbon and Scotch Whisky. No surprise, then, that the Scotch Whisky Association is celebrating it too.
The UK has a strong interest in open markets and free trade in general – 27% of our GDP is from exports; 1 in 4 UK jobs is linked to business overseas. So we’ll continue to push for trade deals, like the ones the EU is pursuing with India, Canada, Mercosur and Singapore, and welcome the start of the process for negotiations of an EU FTA with Japan. And last, but certainly not least, we’ll keep on arguing for the elusive conclusion of a pro-development multilateral Doha trade round.