24 February 2023
Erika Szyszczak is a Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Professor Emerita of Law at the University of Sussex.
24 February 2022: a date that shook the world as Russian aggression in Ukraine escalated.
The fragility of a strategic democratic state was challenged, alongside exposing the vulnerability of interdependent global supply chains. Thus, it was not surprising that the early response to Russian aggression was in the form of economic sanctions led by the US, the UK and the EU. [1] (more…)
Cosmo Rana-Iozzi February 24th, 2023
Posted In: Uncategorised
Tags: Emissions, EU, European Court of Justice, European Union, Financial Services, international economic law, law, Legal Issues, Russia, Sanctions, trade, UK economy, UK Government, Ukraine, USA
27 January 2022
Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex and Guillermo Larbalestier is Research Assistant in International Trade at the University of Sussex and Fellow of the UKTPO.
The crisis between Ukraine and Russia is deeply concerning – for the people of Ukraine, but also in terms of broader ramifications for world order and stability. NATO’s strategy to avoid direct military action against Russia points at diplomacy and economic sanctions. It is therefore useful to consider the possible role of these in the realm of international trade.
As we show below, Russian trade is highly dependent on the EU and NATO member states. Hence, the scope for the use of such policy is there. This is not an argument, however, for so doing – as that involves complex political trade-offs (which are beyond the scope of this blog). The importance of Russia as a supplier in particular sectors, notably energy, and hence the dependence of the EU and NATO member states on Russia is also a factor in those trade-offs.
Charlotte Humma January 27th, 2022
Posted In: Uncategorised
12 November 2020
Professor Erika Szyszczak is a Fellow of UKTPO
In its avowed Global Britain Project the UK promised that Ukraine would be given preferential status in the post-Brexit trade landscape. Finally, on October 8, 2020 the UK and Ukraine signed a Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement (the Agreement).
This is the first comprehensive strategic and trade agreement signed by the UK since the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, but one of several continuity agreements. The political symbolism of the Agreement is of greater significance than the economic impact of the Agreement, with Ukraine and the UK keen to show that they are independent, sovereign trading nations. (more…)
George Meredith November 18th, 2020
Posted In: Uncategorised
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A New Type of Integration without Membership
The Substance of Approximation
Charlotte Humma February 13th, 2018
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13 January 2017
Erika Szyszczak is a Professor of Law at the University of Sussex, Barrister and ADR Mediator at Littleton Chambers, Temple and a Fellow of the UKTPO.
EU trade policy has been cast into shadow by the sharp focus on how the UK will conduct its future trade policy. But it will be in the interests of the EU and the UK to negotiate their future trading relationship as quickly and smoothly as possible. An issue for the EU will be the question of whether it will have exclusive competence to negotiate and ratify a trade deal with the UK. Or will it be forced to acknowledge that any future agreement will be a mixed agreement requiring, and risking, ratification by all 27 Member States?
Two events at the end of 2016 have shed light on the legal and political issues facing the EU in negotiating a post-Brexit world. (more…)
Katherine Davies January 13th, 2017
Posted In: UK- EU
Tags: Canada, CETA, Legal Issues, Negotiations, politics, Singapore, TFEU, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Ukraine
16 February 2024
Michael Gasiorek is Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Co-Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex Business School. Nicolo Tamberi is Research Fellow in Economics at the University of Sussex and Fellow of UKTPO.
HMRC has just published statistics for trade in goods for December 2023, giving us three years of data after the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with the EU in 2021. This blog reviews trends in UK trade with the world and the effects of the TCA on UK-EU trade.
There is good and bad news for UK trade in goods. Starting with the bitter pill, the UK’s trade in goods with the world has underperformed compared to other comparable countries over the last few years. Figure 1 shows the exports (panel a) and imports (panel b) of the UK, marked in red, and other OECD countries in blue, together with the series for the OECD total in dark blue. While during the period 2013-16, the UK was in line with the OECD total, the UK’s imports and exports started to slow down since the Brexit referendum in June 2016. For exports, the gap with the OECD total increased substantially with the Covid-19 pandemic. Imputing causation in this setting is not easy; most likely, the Brexit referendum, a slow recovery from the pandemic and the UK’s exit from the EU all contributed to the underperformance of UK trade. (more…)
Charlotte Humma February 15th, 2024
Posted In: Uncategorised
In recent years the UK has confronted a series of non-trivial challenges such as Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine-Russia war and the cost-of-living crisis. Such issues pose serious challenges for the Government, but the consensus is that a big push is needed to boost economic growth. Now the UK government has an independent trade policy, the question arises “what might trade do to help increase economic growth?” (more…)
Jessie Madrigal-Fletcher December 15th, 2023
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The threat from China and the US: A stymied global trade order
EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
Preserving EU values and the OSA
Translating policy into a legal concept
Significant legal developments
Defending against economic coercion
Jessie Madrigal-Fletcher September 22nd, 2023
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8 June 2023
Michael Gasiorek is Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Co-Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex Business School. Peter Holmes is a Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Emeritus Reader in Economics at the University of Sussex Business School. Manuel Tong Koecklin is a Research Fellow in the Economics of Trade at the UK Trade Policy Observatory and University of Sussex Business School.
Recently, there have been a series of reports in the media focussing on the challenges that electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are likely to face, from the end of this year, in exporting electric vehicles tariff-free to the EU. The concern it because of the changes in the rules of origin (ROOs) requirements (for EVs and batteries) which will become more difficult from January 2024, and again from 2027 and 2028 onwards. (more…)
Jessie Madrigal-Fletcher June 8th, 2023
Posted In: UK- EU
Tags: Brexit, EU, Europe, goods, Single Market, TCA, Trade and Cooperation Agreement, trade policy, UK economy
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13 March 2023
Emily Lydgate is Reader (Senior Associate Professor) in Environmental Law at University of Sussex School of Law, Politics and Sociology and Deputy Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory
The UKTPO is pleased to re-publish this TaPP Network Workshop Summary, an output of a TaPP workshop in January with speakers Geraldo Vidigal (University of Amsterdam), Emily Lydgate (UKTPO/CITP), Ilaria Espa (USI/WTI), and Greg Messenger (TaPP/University of Bristol). Rather than a blog, this note summarises views of panel participants and the authors. It provides useful insights on the latest developments in this area and policy recommendations for the UK in navigating the new subsidies race between the US and the EU. (more…)
Cosmo Rana-Iozzi March 13th, 2023
Posted In: Uncategorised
Tags: Climate policy, Emissions, Emissions Trading System, Environment, EU, European Union, trade, Trade agreements, trade dispute, trade negotiations, trade policy, UK economy, UK Government, USA, WTO, WTO rules
