Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what her Department's policy is on Government engagement with the EU-US Trade and Technology Council.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The EU-US Trade and Technology Council is a bilateral forum between EU and US. We are monitoring this forum and tracking developments. We continue to engage with both the EU and the US on these important issues.
At the recent UK-US Trade Dialogue in Aberdeen, we agreed to take forward further work on a number of priority areas, including digital trade.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of compliance by China of its World Trade Organisation obligations.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The UK statement at China’s World Trade Organization Trade Policy Review in October 2021 sets out the Department’s position on China’s level of compliance.
We recognise China’s progress but have called on China to fully meet the commitments set out in its Accession Protocol. We have concerns about lack of transparency in various areas, including subsidies and state-owned enterprises, and practices which distort markets.
The statement can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/wto-trade-policy-review-of-china-uk-statement.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many cases have been taken against the UK under investor-state dispute settlement provisions and what the outcome was of those cases.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The United Kingdom has never had an investor-state dispute settlement case against her that proceeded to arbitration.
The United Kingdom has more than 90 Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) in force with countries across the world. HM Government has made clear that our investment policy will continue to protect the United Kingdom’s right to regulate in the public interest.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the UK's policy is on the future of the World Trade Organisation.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK believes a strong, rules based, multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core, is in the best interests of all nations. The UK is working to strengthen and reform the WTO, so it can continue to deliver?a?free, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent framework for trade between countries. This will play an important role?in resolving the economic effects of the global pandemic.
We are engaging closely with the WTO Secretariat and the wider Membership to achieve an early resumption of the WTO’s regular work. Our priorities are making progress on updating the WTO rulebook, in particular in the areas of digital, services and the environment, and to improve transparency.
We continue to support a fully-functioning dispute settlement system with an appeal function and remain committed to finding a permanent resolution to the impasse of the Appellate Body.