Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to her Department’s announcement of the updated Developing Countries Trading Scheme on 15 August 2022, which product lines continue to have tariffs for Low Income Countries and Lower-Middle Income Countries to avoid preference erosion for Least Developed Countries.

The Developing Countries Trading Scheme is one of the most generous trade preferences schemes in the world and provides duty free access on everything but arms to Least Developed Counties.

During the consultation into the scheme in 2021, the majority of respondents that raised the issue of preference erosion for Least Developed Countries did not specify individual product lines of concern. Those that did, highlighted the following product lines: cocoa, sugar and bananas.

Tariffs remain unchanged for non-Least Developed Countries within the scheme on these product lines.