Thread by @DmitryOpines

1/ No one:

Absolutely no one:

Me: Given the Sun Article, here are all of the pig facts I was able to hastily cobble together on UK Swine Trade, the EU-Japan FTA and the potential for a UK-Japan FTA to do better.

Most data from @FAOstatistics, 2016.

2/ The UK produces a lot of pork but eats the vast majority of it, and then imports a bunch more on top.

3/ Japan imports about 2 billion pounds of pork annually, which is a lot of Tonkatsu.

Mmmm, tonkatsu.

4/ The Japanese tariff on pork products varies, but it generally ranges between 4.3% and 3.5 GBP per kilo.

Their tariff on live pigs is a bit higher, but you don't care about that because the UK doesn't really export live pigs.

5/ In the EU-Japan FTA, Japan has agreed to phase out the most of its pork tariffs.

It phases most of the pork product tariffs out over 10 years, with small reductions early, then big reductions after 5 years.

It phases out most of the live swine tariffs evenly over 16 years.

6/ Is it possible the UK has done better than this in its FTA?

The EU 27 collectively produce 20 times more pork than the UK, which means that if this isn't a market Japan is hugely defensive about, they might be relaxed about letting the UK have access a bit earlier.

7/ FAQ: "If true, is this..?"

a) A win for @tradegovuk?

Yes, absolutely. Go team.

b) A validation of Brexit?

I mean, no, but if that's the lens you're going to use then don't even bother following trade news. Just tweet "this wasn't worth leaving the SM/CU" every 2 days.

8/ FAQ:

c) Does this include indigenous pigs?

Yes.

d) Does it include pork products?

These are the categories FAO tracks for pork:

9/ If you want to go read the Japan-EU Tariff schedules they can be found here:
trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/20…

With the code explanations here:
trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/20…

I would gently advise doing literally anything else with your time instead, though. Literally anything.