US Tariffs on EU Goods

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

The duty reimbursement scheme is an established scheme that businesses have been using to make successful claims since 30 June 2023. As I have said, comprehensive guidance is available on GOV.UK and businesses can contact HMRC if they need more information to support their claims.

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I refer to my interest as chair of InterTrade UK. Paragraph 47 of Safeguarding the Union says that the United Kingdom is not just a political union but an economic union. Given that, and bearing in mind what other noble Lords have said, how can we deal with the economic problems of tariffs coming from either the European Union or the United States of America? How do we make it simpler? The Minister said that it is an established scheme, but it has been in place for less than two years and has not had to be activated until these tariffs have come to fruition. We need to find a way to make it easier for companies and to deal with it proactively.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

This is all predicated on the Windsor Framework, which removes unnecessary checks, paperwork and duties and fixes a lot of the problems for parcels and medicines applying across the whole of the UK. It also enables important democratic scrutiny through the Stormont brake. There are those protections in place, and we are continuing to look at the operation of the Windsor Framework as we go forward.