Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the UK’s trading arrangements with developing countries.

The Department for International Trade and the Department for International Development are working closely together to put global prosperity at the heart of the UKs future trade and development policy and to shape our future trading arrangements with these countries. Our first priority is to deliver continuity in these trading arrangements as we leave the EU, which is why the UK is seeking to replicate the effects of the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade preferences scheme for developing countries. The Act also enshrines into UK law the commitment contained in the UN Sustainable Development Goals to provide duty free quota free trade access for Least Developed Countries. The UK trade preference scheme will, as a minimum, provide the same level of access as the current EU trade preference scheme by granting duty-free, quota-free access to 48 Least Developed Countries and by granting generous tariff reductions to around 25 other developing countries.