Russia blocks UK post Brexit WTO tariff carve up plan...
This was exactly one of the pre referendum Cameron Government Brexit warnings
This was exactly one of the pre referendum Cameron Government Brexit warnings
I first wrote about this process when it was going well in July 2017 on a visit to the WTO with Liam Fox news.sky.com/story/scheduli…
They let me into the basement archives where I found the last set of UK trade schedules - the process of negotiating this with EU going well at that time:
Here was Mrs Campbell negotiating tariffs with China in the 1930s
But a year ago onwards many of the UK’s post Brexit trade allies started to object informally to this WTO plan that had been agreed with the EU... eg US, NZ and here Australia (then ambo in a #brexitforensics on sheep farming)
Objections began to get more detailed over summer:
All of them tracked by expert @CoppetainPU here:
Eg NZ in a submission to EU saying the post Brexit wto quota carve up risked a spiralling unilateral trade retaliation that sounds a lot like a trade war 
Today’s story is about a formal objection from a non-ally, in Russia, which could spell the end for a lengthy attempt to try to get round the WTO tariff issue through a short-circuited “rectification” process. Process beholden to any and every other member, for whatever reason...
Though this is not about *WTO membership* UK is and always has been a member....
However there are parallel problems in the important Procurement Agreement, with objections from the US itself according to reporting of @bbaschuk
However there are parallel problems in the important Procurement Agreement, with objections from the US itself according to reporting of @bbaschuk
So @LiamFox today made this statement to Commons on now having to enter negotiations under Article 28 of GATT over the WTO post Brexit tariff quota carve up, after following objections, they were not certified. This should mean negotiations with Russia, and perhaps NZ, Oz, US etc
