Some trade facts as PM starts her 3 country “global Britain” Africa tour to open up new markets after Brexit.
UK exports to...
South Africa 🇿🇦= £4.4bn
Nigeria 🇳🇬= £2.1bn
Kenya 🇰🇪= £1bn
To ALL of Africa 🌍= £17.6bn
UK exports to the EU🇪🇺= £243bn.
UK exports to...
South Africa 🇿🇦= £4.4bn
Nigeria 🇳🇬= £2.1bn
Kenya 🇰🇪= £1bn
To ALL of Africa 🌍= £17.6bn
UK exports to the EU🇪🇺= £243bn.
In other words our exports to the three countries she’s visiting are less than 3% of the value of our exports to the EU. It’s going to have to be one hell of a trade deal to make up for any European post-Brexit shortfall.
Worth remembering too that the EU already has favourable trade deals with many African countries through Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) which offer quota and tariff free access to European markets. Not clear there’s a huge capacity for Britain alone to go much further.
Indeed many African govts and businesses fear that if Britain crashes out without a deal, they would lose the privileged access they currently enjoy to British markets as part of the EU.
South African businesses we’ve spoken to also say that currently UK is their preferred trading partner partly because we are a gateway to the EU. That will change after Brexit. Africa more generally is being wooed by big bloc of EU, China and US. Question is- Can Britain compete?
