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Peter Ungphakorn
@CoppetainPU
, 5 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Almost unnoticed in this👇🏽 clip, is a significant sentence from @LiamFox:

“We wouldn’t want to go into our position as an independent member of the WTO, in breach of the first article,” ie, GATT Art1 on non-discrimination (MFN).

What does it mean?

1/4
parliamentlive.tv/event/index/f7…
It makes sense politically for the UK to start life as an independent WTO member, demonstrating a commitment to key WTO rules. On this, @liamfox is right. At stake is the UK’s credibility.

It means no shenanigans over bending/breaking rules, eg on border procedures. …

2/4
It means:

— not calling other WTO members’ bluff.

— not daring them to challenge the UK in the WTO's dispute settlement court

— not saying “don’t worry, it won't matter anyway since the court is in trouble and won’t be able to function beyond the end of this year.”

3/5
It’s a pity @LiamFox spoiled it.

He was wrong to imply that GATT Art24 applies only to interim deals. It doesn't.

Worse, he said GATT Art1 (MFN, non-discrimination between trading partners) “takes precedence”. It doesn’t. GATT Art24 is a set of EXCEPTIONS to GATT Art1.

4/5
Source: the clip comes from a session of @CommonsIntTrade on Feb 6, 2019.

Fox replies to a question from @JuliaLopezMP, who sadly also doesn’t realise that citing GATT Art24 in this context is a red herring.

GATT Art24 covers *ALL* FTAs in goods.

5/5
parliamentlive.tv/event/index/f7… Image of a red herring labelled GATT Article XXIV
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More from @CoppetainPU see all

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Peter Ungphakorn
@CoppetainPU
I rebutted @DCBMEP's original thread. He deleted most of it and retweeted it here👇🏽

So here's my original rebuttal thread on why he's wrong, slightly elaborated

1/8
Dear @DCBMEP

I fear you still don't understand GATT Art.24.

It's not "a simple basic Free Trade Agreement". It applies to all free trade agreements in goods, whether simple and basic, or complex and sophisticated



2/8
In your tweets 4&5, you refer to @Lorand_Bartels' 1-page FTA.

Yes, even that would have to comply with GATT Art.24. So would CETA+++++.

So does the single market.

3/8
Read 9 tweets
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Peter Ungphakorn
@CoppetainPU
“Article 24 of the World Trade Organisation treaty allows us to continue to trade with Europe on zero tariffs while we negotiate a free trade arrangement.”

Statements like this keep returning to the debate.

Ilze Jozepa, @commonslibrary, takes a look

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/brexit/no-deal…
Meanwhile @rjbarfield1 has slightly revised his paper on the same subject. It's here: brexitfactbase.com/pdfs/BarfieldB… Image of the paper's cover
As @fascinatorfun warned in a comment below this👆🏾tweet, some Brexiters including @DCBMEP have retweeted it today.

I'm assuming they read the linked @commonslibrary report, realised what GATT Art24 really is & grasped why an "interim" deal with 10-year grace period is a problem Screenshot of last two sections of the Commons Library paper
Read 4 tweets
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Peter Ungphakorn
@CoppetainPU
What have the UK and Switzerland agreed on their trade relationship post-Brexit?

The text(s) is(are) not available publicly but there are interesting insights in a Swiss government information sheet, prepared mainly for Swiss companies.

Quite a long thread (21 tweets)

1/21
I have a rough translation👇🏾. It’s from the French version, which is here: seco.admin.ch/dam/seco/fr/do…

German and Italian versions are also available by switching the language link at the top right of this page (the English page has the German text): seco.admin.ch/seco/fr/home/A…

2/21
The information sheet goes through a number of relevant agreements.

In each case it looks at “deal” (UK leaves EU with the Withdrawal Agreement and transition), and “no deal”.

“Deal” only looks at the transition, not beyond, so not a long-term “roll-over”. More a stop-gap

3/21
Read 22 tweets

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Absent any transition agreement, the UK will become an independent member of the @wto and must ensure its joint WTO commitments are disentangled from the EU.
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