Thread by @CoppetainPU

I’ve looked into the background of this tariff quota.

The 260,000-tonne duty-free tariff quota for raw cane sugar is entirely new and opened up unilaterally by the British government. It is not required under the UK’s commitments in the WTO.

Details follow

1/7

https://twitter.com/CoppetainPU/status/1410727085903990784

As an EU member UK duty-free imports of raw cane sugar came under a commitment by the EU28 to have a low-duty (not zero) tariff quota of at least 770,935 tonnes shared among Australia, Brazil, Cuba and anyone (“erga omnes”).

tradebetablog.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/4-eu-t…

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The UK and EU27 proposed in the WTO that after Brexit the UK’s share would be only 66,050 tonnes (8% of the original total). The rest would be taken up by the EU27 including 100% of Cuba’s tariff quota

It’s not duty-free. €98/tonne inside the quota

tradebetablog.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/2-uk-d…

3/7

That’s the UK’s binding commitment in the WTO, although details are still being negotiated with some suppliers

“Bound” tariffs in the WTO are maximums. “Bound” quota sizes are minimums

In practice countries can open their markets wider and that’s what the UK has done here

4/7

The UK Global Tariff™ are “applied” tariffs and tariff quotas. They include the tariff quotas bound in the WTO exactly as committed. (Note the numbers are kg, not tonnes, and the in-quota duty is in £ not €, ie £82.01 instead of €98 per tonne)

tradebetablog.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/uk-app…

5/7

But the UK Global Tariff™ also creates this entirely new tariff quota, which is duty-free for 260,000 tonnes.

And that’s what the law suit is about.

(The colour coding represents a different method of allocating the quota, but we can ignore that.)

tradebetablog.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/uk-app…

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Here’s a link to the FT story online, for FT subscribers

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ft.com/content/7398e0…

CORRECTION ⬆️It's not duty-free

Thread continues here

https://twitter.com/CoppetainPU/status/1410896424682860544?s=20