,
4 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
1/ US Vice President Mike Pence is claiming a US-UK FTA could quadruple bilateral trade. That's insane.
To do so the US-UK FTA would have to generate $550 to $650 billion in new bilateral trade.
By way of comparison the UK's entire global trade volume in 2018 was $1.6 trillion.
To do so the US-UK FTA would have to generate $550 to $650 billion in new bilateral trade.
By way of comparison the UK's entire global trade volume in 2018 was $1.6 trillion.
/2 Let's use US figures.
In 2018 the US and UK had a total goods and services trade value of $261.9b.
Quadrupling that gets us $1.047 trillion USD.
What's that in context you ask?
In 2018 the US and UK had a total goods and services trade value of $261.9b.
Quadrupling that gets us $1.047 trillion USD.
What's that in context you ask?
3/ Well, it's significantly larger than existing US trade with:
The People's Republic of China ($737.1 billion)
or
Mexico ($671.0 billion)
and even a little bigger than bilateral trade with the entire
EU 27 ($1.038 trillion)
The People's Republic of China ($737.1 billion)
or
Mexico ($671.0 billion)
and even a little bigger than bilateral trade with the entire
EU 27 ($1.038 trillion)
4/ Free Trade Agreements are nice to have, and they can certainly increase bilateral trade (though in part by diverting trade that would otherwise go elsewhere).
They are not, however, sorcery.
I cannot stress that enough. /end
They are not, however, sorcery.
I cannot stress that enough. /end
