Multilateral Free Trade

Lord Fox Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes a very important point. We are concerned about any potential threat of a shift towards protectionism and tariffs. The Government will continue to make a very strong case for free trade. After all, we are an open trading economy, and we benefit from that in our trading relationships with other countries. On the point about President Trump, let us not get ahead of ourselves; we will just have to wait and see when he gets into government.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, first, I express the immense sadness on these Benches at the passing of our noble friend Lady Randerson. She was a wonderful colleague and a great contributor to your Lordships’ House. She will be sadly missed.

While the UK’s recent accession to the CPTPP may have had strategic importance, in market terms it was, in essence, insignificant, not least because that market is many thousands of miles away. I ask the Minister to reaffirm the importance of a huge market just several tens of miles away from our shores, not least given what we are starting to get from the United States. Can he tell your Lordships’ House what practical steps the Government are taking for better trade with the EU? Specifically, will the makers and manufacturers of the UK have their access to the EU eased this year?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, we on these Benches send our deepest condolences to Baroness Randerson’s friends and family.

The UK’s accession to the CPTPP takes a plurilateral Pacific deal and makes it a truly global one, bringing new opportunities for British businesses and supporting jobs across the country. The UK is the first country to accede to the CPTTP and the first European member of the CPTPP, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to multilateral trade. As far as the EU is concerned, the Prime Minister has stated many times that we are resetting our relationship with Europe. We want to ensure that our businesses have a much better working relationship with Europe. We will have to wait and see what happens from there.