Multilateral Free Trade

Lord Hannay of Chiswick Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes a very important point; regretfully, I do not have substantive details on that, and I will come back to him. In general principles, the UK is a very supportive and open trading economy, and we will push for that in any of our trade relationships and negotiations with other countries.

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that “tariff” is merely a synonym for “tax” and that it does not apply simply to the producers of the exporting countries but also to the consumers of the importing countries? That goes in the direction of the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Lamont.

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a very interesting point. Tariffs are not good for trade: they will make things more expensive. We have benefited from tariff-free trading relationships with many countries, and consumers have also benefited from cheaper prices, so we must constantly engage with our trading partners to have tariff-free trade.