Ministerial Correction

Tuesday 30th April 2019 Ministerial Corrections

Tuesday 30 April 2019

International Trade

Tuesday 30th April 2019 Ministerial Corrections

EU Customs Union

The following is an extract from oral questions to the Secretary of State for International Trade on Thursday 25 April 2019.

[Nick Smith]

Some 9,000 people work in the Welsh steel industry, so can I ask the Secretary of State to think again, and support a permanent customs union and commit to a common external tariff on steel imports to support steel jobs in south Wales?

[Dr Fox]

No, I will not commit to that. I have set out the reasons why I believe the application of a common external tariff will be limiting on the UK’s ability to carry out an independent trade policy. What I would say is that we already have the Trade Remedies Authority up and running, and that is the best way to deal with any disputes over steel through WTO rules.

[Official Report, 25 April 2019, Vol. 658, c. 860.]

Letter of correction from the Secretary of State for International Trade:

An error has been identified in the response I gave to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith).

The correct response should have been:

[Dr Fox]

No, I will not commit to that. I have set out the reasons why I believe the application of a common external tariff will be limiting on the UK’s ability to carry out an independent trade policy. What I would say is that we have already established our trade remedies functionality, and that is the best way to deal with any disputes over steel through WTO rules.