NEW:
Billions of pounds of British exports to the EU faced tariffs in first three months of UK-EU tariff free trade deal, according to a Trade Policy Observatory analysis, seen by the BBC, of the official EU27 data from actual customs declarations now required on UK-EU trade /1
Billions of pounds of British exports to the EU faced tariffs in first three months of UK-EU tariff free trade deal, according to a Trade Policy Observatory analysis, seen by the BBC, of the official EU27 data from actual customs declarations now required on UK-EU trade /1
FULL Story: This is an early study of “preference utilisation” using official data, and reflects a number of stories we have heard of companies simply paying the tariff if they are unable or it is too onerous to claim eligibility for the tariff-free deal bbc.co.uk/news/business-…
The TPO analysis concludes that £2.5 to £3.5 billion of British exports have faced tariffs so far, but the data for March is not yet complete. European sources said their internal data put it at €2.5bn -for reference GB-EU exports were £34bn (down from avg £44b Q1 18-20) /3
So what’s going on?
some evidence in the data to back up what industry bodies for food, textile and car exports told us, that this was about inability to claim zero tariffs, and in particular to be able to prove exports and parts were “made in Britain” - aka rules of origin /4
some evidence in the data to back up what industry bodies for food, textile and car exports told us, that this was about inability to claim zero tariffs, and in particular to be able to prove exports and parts were “made in Britain” - aka rules of origin /4
There is the related issue of where GB had been used to process EU content/ parts for reexport to EU. There is also a lack of familiarity with the terms of the deal in Jan/ Feb. and theres also a hope some of these payments could be refunded /5
Glass half full version is that utilisation of deal is not far out of line with normal free trade agreements elsewhere. Ie even zero tariff deals still require exporters to prove eligibility, and its never 100%. On the other hand of course, none of this was required before. /6
gives early indication - trade officials say they want to wait a year to assess utilisation rates, & also for example, doesn’t include Northern Ireland.
UK authorities are collecting the equivalent data incoming from the EU27, which will be interesting. Yet to be published /7
UK authorities are collecting the equivalent data incoming from the EU27, which will be interesting. Yet to be published /7
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
