Some very welcome announcements / consultation from @tradegovuk this morning. Let's just take a quick look... 1/
@tradegovuk First, a consultation on tariff rates at gov.uk/government/con…. This is a very important opportunity for business and other stakeholders to make their views known on what tariffs the UK should be setting 2/
@tradegovuk Tariff policy is necessarily a balance - between consumer and producer interests, the ability of government to have something to reduce in trade talks, ensuring the value of zero tariffs for developing countries - sort of reflected in this paragraph 3/ 
@tradegovuk There's no exact science to setting tariff rates, and they aren't the most important part of the UK's future trade policy, but individual rates can make a big impact on manufacturers, farmers, retailers and many more. So they really should respond. 4/
@tradegovuk One written statement from DIT concerns this tariff consultation. The other is a broad outline of trade agreements we plan to seek - with Australia, US, Japan, New Zealand 5/ (parliament.uk/business/publi…)
@tradegovuk The broad outlines of the statement on trade agreements suggest UK policy is mostly focused on securing tariff reductions, and they are doubling down on no reduction in food standards or inclusion of the NHS. Which will make reaching a comprehensive US trade deal tough. 6/
@tradegovuk Other interesting points to note in this statement - a focus on business travel to other markets (but nothing the other way, a longstanding irritant for other countries), and on procurement with the US (where if we compromised on food standards we might get something minor) 7/
@tradegovuk There's also a mention of potentially joining CPTPP down the line, though there remain a few policy problems in signing up to this text which has already been agreed by others, including potentially on food. 8/
@tradegovuk As suggested before trade deals of the sort suggested are unlikely to have any significant economic impact (see UK gov Nov 2018), and need to be just one part of a much wider of a trade policy strategy with more focused offensive interests. But at least a start. 9/ end
@tradegovuk The NFU has a question about UK trade policy (well, they probably have many, but this one is particularly important)
