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Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
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19 Feb, 5 tweets, 1 min read
The peculiar Sun story speaks to a larger problem how can the UK join its natural allies on trade? (thread)
In many respects the EU is the most of these natural allies: shared regulatory traditions, shared outlook, in fact, most of the UK FTAs are based on / copies of EU FTAs. It doesn't get more similar than that.
However, emotionally the EU is not perceived as that. The UK "feels" closer to the US or Canada.
But how to cope and work in a world then, in which many trade initiatives that the UK would want to support have the EU as a main driver?
My preferred approach would be to lose our allergies and just develop a normal relationship. But if that's not possible, finding a way to sell us joining our allies is better than not joining them.

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More from @hhesterm

Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
18 Feb
Some thoughts about AZ and the vaccine debate. None of them on contract law or wading into the emotional dispute on it - but relating to the consequences of what I see as a shift in relations to “big pharma” (thread)
Some years back I wrote on pharma patents. One of the big stories of the time was HIV drug pricing. Pharma’s drug pricing was a scandal. The argument was “we need the money because production and development is expensive”. But once exclusivity ceased, prices fell dramatically
It is fair to say that big pharma was at a PR low. In trade negotiations ever higher standards of IP were increasingly criticised. The US argument that it finances drug development for the world by having high prices didn’t carry the day, most of the time.
Read 4 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
18 Feb
I refuse to go into debates on the content of the contract, but there’s an interesting lesson on transparency: the contract was published months ago. Yet when CNN asked about it, the government said they cannot have it because of risks to national security. What do we learn?/1
We learn that “transparency” is more than just publishing a document. Because we no longer live in a time of information scarcity. We live in a time of excess information still poorly adapted to that change. /2
You cannot hide a document more effectively than by publishing it in an obscure place. (Yes, the hitchhiker‘s guide and the publication for the plans to destroy earth comes to mind). What to do? /3
Read 4 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
17 Feb
Politics is an interesting game. Three points on this (thread)
1) Everybody who knows about trade knows that significant barriers have been built up in EU-UK trade. As a consequence, comparatively EU-UK trade will take a hit.
2) I am entirely certain that the comparative decrease of UK-EU trade as opposed to UK rest of the world trade resulting from these trade barriers will be cited as evidence that reorienting is the right choice.
Read 5 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
16 Feb
The institutional split between EU trade and rest of the world trade, once justifiable because of Art. 50 TEU and the specifics of the Brexit process, makes no more sense in a post Brexit world. But the politics of it ain’t easy /1
First of all with the creation of a separate Brexit process a fiefdom was created. That currently belongs to Lord Frost and Michael Gove. Frost leads the EU-UK relationship. Gove represents the UK on the Partnership Council politico.eu/article/eu-wan…
(The same holds true on the EU side where it’s not Dombrovskis who leads for the EU as Trade Commissioner)
Read 7 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
11 Feb
NI is all too often used as a pawn in political games. I very much applaud this sentiment: let us tackle the problems and work pragmatically to find solutions.
On SPS specifically: I urge the government to treat the group on regulatory divergence as a matter of priority. The country needs to finalize the regulatory debate about divergence to start a meaningful debate about further trade simplifications @naomi_long
We cannot remain in this limbo in which “we can finally deregulate” and “we have the same regulations” continue to be two simultaneous mantras. So: let’s urgently decide where to diverge and where we actually like what we have.
Read 4 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
7 Feb
Some thoughts about the UK’s stage approach of setting up a full border with the EU (text here from assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…) (short thread)
The UK opted for a phased approach to building up the border. This allows the government to build up the border control posts needed until July (see the first graph).
One would hope that this will give industry time to adapt, but I am not all too optimistic seeing the current issues. And it creates another issue: the illusion that the UK won’t impose the same type of border the EU imposes.
Read 4 tweets

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