Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the volume of trade coming from the Republic of Ireland via ports in Wales for onward transmission to continental Europe since 1 January.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Department for International Trade does not hold the data requested.
The Intrastat data collection (collected by HMRC), which does not collect port information, is still being used in 2021 for Great Britain imports from the EU. Cabinet Office and HMRC continue to monitor the flow of freight vehicles travelling between the UK and EU nations, including those travelling between the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain, and continental Europe.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential use of import substitution in the UK.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
HM Government has made no formal assessment of the potential use of import substitution in the UK. However, this Government pursues a free trade policy that is open and fair and is a strong supporter of the rules-based international system.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why tariffs are not charged on completed diesel generator sets imported into the UK from ‘most favoured nations’ when some of the components that are required to manufacture such sets in the UK are subject to tariffs.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The UK’s ‘Most Favoured Nation’ tariff, the UK Global Tariff (UKGT), replaced the EU’s Common External Tariff on 1 January 2021. The UKGT is a bespoke tariff schedule that is tailored to the needs of the UK economy and UK businesses, reflecting UK interests and our free trade ambitions.
In designing the UKGT, we sought to balance a wide range of considerations, such as the interests of UK consumers and producers, our ambitious trade agenda, our commitment to developing countries and feedback provided through the public consultation; to which we received over 1,300 responses from a wide range of stakeholders across the UK.
We cannot reliably inform on specific tariffs without the specific commodity codes. The new Trade Tariff lookup tool is a simple way to check the tariff rate applying to a particular product.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish a unit to deal with import substitution before the end of the transition period agreed with the EU.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Department for International Trade has no current plans to establish an Import Substitution Unit.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in finding an export market for the new Type 31 class of frigate.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Work to identify an export market for the new Type 31 class of frigate is on-going. A General-Purpose Frigate Export Working Group (GPFEWG), with representatives from cross-Government and Industry, has been set up and is responsible for supporting the realisation of Type 31 export opportunities in support of the National Ship Building Strategy (NSBS). The GPFEWG is meeting regularly to agree the export opportunities and the strategy to pursue them.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what restrictions apply to British firms seeking to acquire Chinese commercial assets.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
The UK Government places no restrictions on British firms looking to invest in China and the stock of UK foreign direct investment (FDI) in China was £11.6bn in 2016, 17.7% higher than in 2015. Some UK businesses looking to invest in China face multiple restrictions and China has an overall FDI restrictiveness index of 0.327 on the OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index, the fourth most restrictive of the sixty-two countries for which data is available. China’s Catalogue for Guidance of Foreign Invested Industries, which is revised periodically, places sectors into approved, restricted and prohibited categories. Examples of some prohibited sectors include sensitive areas such as the exploration and exploitation of minerals, the creation of genetically modified crops, livestock and seeds and the processing of traditional Chinese medicines.
At the 9th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, the UK welcomed China’s decision in November 2017 to raise the caps on direct and indirect equity ownership by foreign investors across a range of financial services sectors.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Bombardier aircraft are not subject to arbitrary tariffs being imposed on them by the government of the United States.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
HMG Ministers and Officials have actively engaged with the US Administration, Canadian Government, Boeing and Bombardier to facilitate a resolution to this dispute.
The UK Government welcomes the decision by the US International Trade Commission that there is no actual or threatened material injury caused to Boeing by imports of Bombardier’s C-Series aircraft.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to contest the decision of the US Department of Commerce to impose a 300 per cent levy on sales of Bombardier "C" Series aircraft.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government is robustly defending the investigation by the US Department of Commerce and have made clear that Boeing’s case is unjustified. This is reflected in the comprehensive response to Boeing’s petition we have provided. The statements made by the US Department of Commerce on the 26 September and 6 October are only the initial findings. A further determination is expected in December.
We will continue to vigorously defend the interests of the UK aerospace industry and our aerospace workers. We continue to raise this issue with Boeing and with the U.S. Government at the highest levels.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Canada concerning the decision of the US Department of Commerce to impose a 300 per cent levy on sales of Bombardier "C" Series aircraft; and whether they have asked the government of Canada to co-operate fully with the US authorities by revealing the terms of any financial engagement it or Canadian regional governments may have had with Bombardier in respect of the "C" Series aircraft.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government is working in conjunction with counterparts in the Canadian Government, to encourage Boeing to withdraw its complaint and seek a negotiated settlement with Bombardier. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and UK Government officials have been in close and frequent contact with their Canadian counterparts. The Prime Minister also discussed this issue with Prime Minister Trudeau earlier this month, and my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark) has, for example, had a number of conversations with Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, in support of Bombardier.Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Boeing Corporation concerning that company's complaint against Bombardier's "C" Series aircraft.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark) and my hon Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the Minister for Energy and Industry (Richard Harrington), have spoken and met with Boeing a number of times to persuade the company to drop or settle its case, pointing out that this dispute will harm US suppliers which benefit significantly from this aircraft programme. In addition, senior government officials have spoken to members of Boeing’s senior management team in the US and the UK.