Have written two linked pieces on the impact of coronavirus on trade policy - globally and for the UK. Headline - the required mix of national capacity / response and global cooperation at a time of unstable international relations overturns many prevailing theories... thread 1/
First, genuine global cooperation is required to tackle coronavirus. We need all countries to tackle it, we need the same things (equipment, vaccine, food). That's quite an turnround for national populists who wished to underplay and undermine such cooperation... 2/ 
Coronavirus demonstrates that absolute regulatory sovereignty is a chimera. We all need equipment that meets basic requirements, safe vaccines etc. People have been looking to what other countries do. National regulatory differences are less relevant in a crisis. 3/
But - those wishing for a strong international response putting aside politics are going to be disappointed. There are too many fundamental differences between the major trade powers. And too many of them. Messy and hard to see this changing any time soon. 4/
That global picture is tough for the UK. We haven't worked out our relations with any of the trade policy big 6, and have issues with all of them (US - food, EU - just left, China - coronavirus+, Japan - left single market, India - various, Brazil - shallow relations) 5/
There are naturally like minded countries for the UK - mostly members of the CPTPP who have also signed declarations to keep trade flowing in the crisis. But they're distant, trade with them is economically insignificant, and we wouldn't be the leader... 6/
The UK needs to find a path in an uncertain world - a crisis makes it more obvious that we have no coherent basis to our trade policy (low tariffs as a sole policy maybe ok in the 19th century, not in the 21st). A global trade policy environment unlikely to change much soon. 7/
"Coronavirus and trade – reflecting today’s messy globalisation" - full article - ecipe.org/blog/coronavir…
"Coronavirus response sheds light on tough UK trade choices ahead" - full article uktradeforum.net/2020/03/30/cor…
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PS similar to what I said, but better written... @alexmassie thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotla…
