Liz Truss is being questioned by @CommonsIntTrade. She says she's extremely disappointed with US tariffs on whisky and other products that were authorised by the WTO as retaliation for Airbus subsidies. 
@CommonsIntTrade "My view is that we do have a good relationship with the US, but this type of action is not going to help that relationship."
@CommonsIntTrade "I've asked them not to do it."
@CommonsIntTrade Committee chair @AngusMacNeilSNP has asked why producers from other EU countries aren't getting as many tariffs - "Is their relationship a bit more special with the United States?"
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Would Northern Ireland have a terrific advantage not being shackled to the Brexit situation? - asks Angus MacNeil.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Liz Truss says no-deal tariffs on bioethanol were to do with possible CO2 shortages that could impact the beer industry. Were they really, or were they to protect the biethanol producers from floods of imports, after anti-dumping duties were terminated by the EU?
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss says the NFU has been consulted at every stage of the process, although they denounced the no-deal zero tariffs.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss refers to the Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate in Reading that was supposed to be the TRA. She claims they can act immediately on dumping, but it takes about a year to conduct an investigation into the dumping of a single product.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP And they have nothing to do with the no-deal zero tariffs which are what affects the majority of products. Dumping is a tiny niche. Truss is suggesting the TRID deals with general issues.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Dumping can only be proven if investigators show a product is being sold here in the UK below the price it's usually sold at in its home market. But zero tariffs on imports can wipe out UK producers even in the absence of any dumping.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP There are thousands and thousands of products affected by zero tariffs, but the TRID would only have the capacity to conduct investigations on about six products from specific countries per year, because the investigations are so expensive and lengthy.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP The TRID can't just recommend that we increase our tariffs on lamb. That's not the TRID's job.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss is back to talking about a tit-for-tat tariff war. But the US is unilaterally authorised by the WTO to impose tariffs on the EU in retaliation for Airbus subsidies. We can't just throw some back at the US. Not until the Boeing case is resolved.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss says we're very clear under Johnson what type of deal we want from the EU - "There's a new type of clarity."
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP DIT civil servant John Alty thinks Northern Ireland plans are compatible with the WTO's MFN rules.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP "No one has a crystal ball and can predict the future of the economy," Truss says.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss says we're one of the original free trading nations since we abolished the Corn Laws, so we have a very important role to play.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss blatantly lies saying that a voice has been missing at the WTO saying there should be a resolution to the problems with the Appellate Body. Actually the EU has proposed a solution to this.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Owen Smith (Labour): Most people just can't believe what you're saying.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Matt Western asks Truss how we can negotiate with a US president who won't even extradite the diplomat's wife who killed Harry Dunn. Truss calls him defeatist.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss now says we don't have to do a deal with the US, we're currently trading with them on WTO terms. So why do we need to leave the EU to pursue an impossible trade deal?
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Angus MacNeil says we'll need about 25 FTAs to make up for the GDP loss from leaving the EU.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP We'd have to find over six planets to trade with to make up for the loss that Brexit is going to cause, says MacNeil.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP There is a benefit from the UK being able to do things differently that can't be captured in economic models, says Truss.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP DIT spends most of its time making economic models, but Truss insists they are useless because no model can really predict the future. We can't say that Brexit will inflict a 5 percent loss to GDP.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP "Regrettably Canada has not yet rolled over their agreement," says Truss, asked about the claimed rollover of EU trade deals after Brexit.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Angus MacNeil is sceptical about why the government would ban live animal exports to the EU while allowing live animals to be transported the length of the UK.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP That's Truss's sole example of how we would have higher standards than the EU.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Good, Truss is asked if any of the trade remedies measures have been reviewed in the 12 months of the trade remedies department's existence. She admits that none have.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss claims she doesn't anticipate any challenges at the WTO on our trade remedies plans because we've made our approach very clear. It's the opposite: there will be numerous challenges.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP The committee should have asked, "So what have the 100 trade remedies staff been doing for 12 months?" The answer is, sitting chatting with each other.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss wants free ports to be beacons of potential investment.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss says it was an "aberration" that reports that she was negotiating free movement with Australia appeared. She actually said free movement could be part of a trade deal, then changed her mind.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss can't say whether it's more important to get a good free trade deal with the EU or with the US.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss says we could import beef from Australia instead of from the EU. That doesn't sound great for the environment.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss is now claiming that the big players in financial services want EU regulations because they stop smaller players entering the market.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP She says it's the same with tech, although the EU has tried to extract higher taxes from the biggest tech companies.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss hasn't managed to explain why we have a problem with EU regulations. There can be no benefit from regulatory divergence, as she insists there can.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss says the problem with making trade deals is if the other party refuses to do a deal - "there's not much you can do."
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss doesn't think parliament should have a vote on trade deals - they're an executive prerogative.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss doesn't agree with Owen Smith that the Benn Act is a great example of parliament safeguarding the rights of the people.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss doesn't think women can be analysed independently of the population, when asked whether a no-deal Brexit would disproportionately affect women.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss thinks Brexit will empower people and bring more opportunities, including for women.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Truss is minister for women and equalities.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP "I don't think there's a better place in the world to be a woman," says Truss. Her department sacked me for asking questions.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP Angus MacNeil says the UK is actually about the 13th-best country to be a woman.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP "I'm not going to be lectured by a man on the best place to be a woman," says Truss. Not interested in facts if they come from a man.
@CommonsIntTrade @AngusMacNeilSNP The article about this was written by two women, MacNeil says.
