Another day, another UK "ramps up pressure" in trade talks story. Forget the empty threat stuff, there's a real story here. The UK is reversing course on tariff policy, and it's another step away from "buccaneering global Britain" Brexit. 
Recall the no-deal tariffs - we were going to slash tariffs compared to the EU, in what I was told by another department insider was an HMT led "pure Minford" approach. Any remaining tariffs had to be argued for. A radical approach. gov.uk/government/pub…
What I heard this week was that it was Canada's decision not to roll over the existing CETA deal for the UK, because with the no-deal tariffs there was little extra benefit for them, which was the main factor in the change of plan. Without tariff reduction what could we offer?
I've noted before the Johnson government appears to be taking an international approach of safety-first combined with buccaneering language. I suspect this tariff reversal, if confirmed, won't be the last in trade policy. Many expect the UK will back out of a full US trade deal.
Biggest problem UK faces in trade policy - we still don't know what we want. A team of negotiators with no known strategy or desired outcomes. Until we have this, as I've noted repeatedly (here from March 2019), trade policy must be uncertain. ecipe.org/blog/the-next-…
More to follow in the coming weeks and months on what the UK's trade policy should consider, and what the role of trade deals in this would be compared to other policies. For today, the conclusion that the failure in three and a half years to have a strategy is inexcusable. /end
PS a number of folk reply correctly that tariffs are taxes on consumers and this should be pointed out. I'm not going into the pros and cons of different UK tariff policies on an FA Cup Saturday, but yes worth exploring the different options for the UK (that strategy thing).
PPS the other response, what's wrong with threatening those EU protectionist so and so's...? You typical EU loving blah blah... a useful reminder of how so many decisions in the future will continue to be seen through remain v leave filters.
