Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what her planned timetable is for negotiating revised trade agreements with (a) Liechtenstein, (b) Switzerland, (c) Canada, (d) Singapore, (e) Israel, (f) Mexico, (g) Egypt, (h) North Macedonia, (i) Chile, (j) Morocco, (k) Ukraine, (l) Lebanon, (m) Jordan, (n) Tunisia, (o) Serbia, (p) Georgia, (q) Faroe Islands, (r) Moldova, (s) Albania, (t) Kosovo and (u) Palestine to enable companies using the duty-free provisions in the UK’s new generation of freeports to access the tariff reductions available on UK exports to those countries.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The United Kingdom has already committed to beginning negotiations with Canada and Mexico by the end of 2021. HM Government will continue to keep all agreements under review, as we seek to improve benefits for all British businesses, including those operating in our freeports.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many members of staff, and at what grades, accompanied her on her visit to Singapore and Vietnam in December 2020; what the total cost to the public purse was of that visit for all UK attendees; and what the costs were of the (a) flights, (b) accommodation, (c) internal travel and (d) subsistence expenses for that visit.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not routinely release information regarding accompanying staff on ministerial engagements.
The total cost for this visit were: £28,310.03
A breakdown of costs is as follows:
a) Flights – £20,296.24
b) Accommodation – £3,980.06
c) Internal travel – nil.
d) subsistence and expenses – £4,034.00
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which of the continuity free trade agreements negotiated by her Department since 2019 contain prohibitions on duty (a) drawback and (b) exemptions.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
There are currently prohibitions to duty drawback and exemptions in agreements with Canada, Chile, Mexico and Singapore. In addition, there are restrictions on duty drawback and exemptions in place with most trading partners that are signatories to the Pan-European-Mediterranean Convention.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel on 22 February (HL13173) and 9 March (HL13586), to list in the body of their answer which specific countries they have secured continuity trade agreements with since the UK’s departure from the EU.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
In addition to our deal with the EU, we have secured trade agreements with 66 non-EU countries, covering £890 billion of trade in total (2019 data). These are:
Albania;
Antigua and Barbuda;
Barbados;
The Bahamas;
Belize;
Botswana;
Cameroon;
Canada;
Colombia;
Côte d’Ivoire (The Ivory Coast);
Costa Rica;
Chile;
Dominica;
The Dominican Republic;
Ecuador;
Egypt;
El Salvador;
Eswatini (Swaziland);
The Faroe Islands;
Fiji;
Ghana;
Grenada;
Guyana;
Guatemala;
Georgia;
Honduras;
Iceland;
Israel;
Japan;
Jordan;
Jamaica;
Kenya;
Kosovo;
Lebanon;
Lesotho;
Liechtenstein;
Mexico;
Morocco;
Moldova;
Mozambique;
Mauritius;
Nicaragua;
Norway;
North Macedonia;
Namibia;
Peru;
Panama;
Papua New Guinea;
The Palestinian Authority;
Saint Lucia;
St. Vincent and the Grenadines;
Samoa;
The Solomon Islands;
St. Kitts and Nevis;
The Seychelles;
South Africa;
Switzerland;
Singapore;
South Korea;
Suriname;
Trinidad and Tobago;
Tunisia;
Turkey;
Ukraine;
Vietnam; and
Zimbabwe.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the UK's departure from the EU, which countries they have signed continuity trade agreements with.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
We have secured trade agreements with 64 non-EU countries. Total trade with these countries was worth £216 billion in 2019. This accounts for 97% of the value of trade with non-EU countries that we set out to secure agreements with at the start of the trade continuity programme.
After the transition period began, we expanded the ambition of our programme above and beyond this original scope, securing agreements with Japan, Turkey, Vietnam and Singapore, which together accounted for £71 billion of trade in 2019.
All countries with which the United Kingdom has a trade deal are set out on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to Paragraph 8.2 of the Explanatory Referendum on the UK’s Free Trade Agreement with Singapore, what paragraph of the joint political statement accompanying the agreement supports the UK's (a) wider political and (b) human rights objectives.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The United Kingdom has a strong history of promoting our values globally. The UK will continue to show global leadership in encouraging all states to uphold international human rights obligations. We are clear that trade does not have to come at the expense of our values. We have a longstanding, deep, relationship with Singapore and we are able to have open discussions on a range of issues. The UK and Singapore have agreed to sign a UK-Singapore Political Joint Statement to reflect our close partnership. Once the text has been signed it will be published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what provisions there are in the UK’s Free Trade Agreement with Singapore allowing for that agreement to be suspended in whole or in part in response to serious violations by either party of the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The United Kingdom has a strong history of promoting our values globally. The UK will continue to show global leadership in encouraging all states to uphold international human rights obligations. We are clear that trade does not have to come at the expense of our values. We have a longstanding, deep, relationship with Singapore and we are able to have open discussions on a range of issues. The UK and Singapore have agreed to sign a UK-Singapore Political Joint Statement to reflect our close partnership. Once the text has been signed it will be published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she had with her Singaporean counterpart on the potential negotiation of an equivalent to the EU-Singapore Partnership and Cooperation Agreement; and for what reason her Department has not sought such agreement to accompany the UK’s free trade agreement with Singapore.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The United Kingdom has a strong history of promoting our values globally. The UK will continue to show global leadership in encouraging all states to uphold international human rights obligations. We are clear that trade does not have to come at the expense of our values. We have a longstanding, deep, relationship with Singapore and we are able to have open discussions on a range of issues. The UK and Singapore have agreed to sign a UK-Singapore Political Joint Statement to reflect our close partnership. Once the text has been signed it will be published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, for what reason her Department did not include an essential elements clause relating to human rights in the UK’s free trade agreement with Singapore, absent an accompanying bilateral negotiation of an equivalent to the EU-Singapore Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The United Kingdom has a strong history of promoting our values globally. The UK will continue to show global leadership in encouraging all states to uphold international human rights obligations. We are clear that trade does not have to come at the expense of our values. We have a longstanding, deep, relationship with Singapore and we are able to have open discussions on a range of issues. The UK and Singapore have agreed to sign a UK-Singapore Political Joint Statement to reflect our close partnership. Once the text has been signed it will be published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans she has to publish a strategy on trade in digital services.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government aims to make the United Kingdom a global leader in digital services trade, with a network of international agreements that drive productivity, jobs and growth across the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom is already one of the world’s largest exporters of services, with remotely delivered services exports worth £207 billion in 2019. To build on this, we will use our independent trade policy to shape the future of global rules on digital trade. Bilaterally, we are looking for advanced digital services chapters in areas like data and digital in all of the trade negotiations we are currently engaged in.
Earlier this month, my Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade announced our intention to negotiate a ground-breaking Digital Economy Agreement with Singapore.