Brexit: Trade Agreements

Debate between Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Baroness Fairhead

Wednesday 17th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Fairhead]

The most favoured nation clauses are in a number of those agreements, although I could not give the noble Baroness the exact number. Clearly that is one of the issues that needs to be resolved as we move forward, because most favoured nation provisions clearly need to apply where they exist. If the noble Baroness would like the number to be assessed, I will ask my officials to write.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

My Lords, are the Government aware of the Civitas research which shows that Brussels has managed to reach free trade agreements with countries whose combined GDP amounts only to some $7 trillion, whereas four small economies—Chile, Korea, Singapore and Switzerland, which have much smaller economies than ours—have averaged FTAs with countries whose combined GDP is $42 trillion, six times that of the EU? Does this not show that the EU’s famous clout in this area is yet another fraud and that we would be far better making free trade agreements on our own?

[Baroness Fairhead]

My Lords, the UK is a very strong believer in free trade, within rules. Trade means trade within rules. As I said, we will be pursuing our free trade policy and will try to take advantage of the opportunities that exist today. In my department, we are focused on building our export sales, which we can do in the current environment and through our free trade agreements.