Brexit WARNING: Liam Fox reveals how Brussels spat is BOGGING DOWN British trade
A SPAT between Brussels and the United States is bogging down global trade and could have a “significant effect” on Britain, according to International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.
The quarrel involves the European Union’s Trade and Services Agreement, which aims to open up the services market between 23 members of the World Trade Organisation.
This could soon become vital for Britain as the Government seeks to reach a trade agreement with the EU, covering goods as well as services, as the country moves closer to Brexit.
Britain’s economy heavily relies on its services industries and would need to secure a deal with the EU which allows key areas, such as finance, to access European markets.
Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiations, told a group of European newspapers the EU will not do a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK that includes financial services.
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It could have a really significant effect on economies like the UK, which are very services based
Mr Barnier said that the loss of access for the City of London was a consequence of the UK’s decision to leave the EU’s single market.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox sat down with Express.co.uk after a successful trade mission to a meeting with his WTO colleagues in Buenos Aires.
Discussing how Britain could tackle the tricky issue of services, Dr Fox said: “It fits in as part of a bit of a complex jigsaw in the whole services picture.
“There is something called the Trade and Services Agreement, which would be the big liberalising service agreement that a number of countries are involved in.
“It’s been a bit stuck in recent months, largely because of the EU and the United States, over issues like data and data localisation.”
Dr Fox revealed he had ensured he used his talks at the Argentina summit to get the process moving again because it could have a “significant effect” on post-Brexit Britain.
He said: “We’ve been very keen and we were very keen at Buenos Aires to push to get that moving again because it could have a really significant effect on economies like the UK, which are very services based.
“That could be a means by which we unlock a huge amount of potential. So, it’s not just our country-to-country trade agreements that matter, but it’s the big multi-country agreements that are going on at the same time.”
The spat between the US and EU isn’t the only one the UK should be concerned about, according to the International Trade Secretary.
He said China and Brussels had clashed over the Environmental Goods Agreement, which is aimed at reducing trade tariffs on environmentally friendly products like solar panels.
“That is also being bogged down at the present time,” Dr Fox said.
“By all things, over a dispute between China and the European Union about whether a bicycle is an environmental good or not.
“There is the very big picture stuff that can often get mired in the weeks of these sort of discussions.”
