Tag • #trade policy

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New Brexit checks will cause food shortages in UK, importers warn

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 6 days ago - 13:39

Rules due to come in this month will impose new handling fees – and experts say small suppliers are already being driven away

Ministers’ decision to impose Brexit import checks on 30 April will lead to shortages of some foods, flowers and herbs, industry leaders have warned.

In the week after the government was accused of blindsiding the British food industry by giving 27 days’ notice that every consignment of items such as camembert, steak, tulips and chives would be subject to fees of up to £145, small retailers such as delis and farm shops have been scrambling to make sure they still have products to sell.

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New Brexit checks to cost UK business £2bn and fuel inflation, report finds

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 10 April - 23:01

Additional measures from 30 April for imported animal and plant products could hike costs by 10% in first year, says Allianz Trade

New post-Brexit UK border controls coming into force later this month will cost British businesses £2bn and fuel higher inflation, according to a report warning that UK-EU trade will be damaged as a result.

With less than a month before the introduction of new checks on animal and plant products from 30 April, the insurer Allianz Trade said the controls agreed under Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal could add 10% to import costs over the first year.

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‘Our profits could disappear’: Small UK businesses hit out at new import fees

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 4 April - 17:29

Post-Brexit charges of up to £145 may lead to a reduced range of goods available for consumers

British small businesses have hit out at newly announced post-Brexit import fees coming in later this month, warning they could wipe out profits and make importing some products unfeasible.

Trade bodies, retailers and small firms said that the new charges of up to £145 for each consignment could force them to limit the range of items they can offer, while others may have to push up their prices .

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Dover health authority says inland border facility will be ‘open door for disease’

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 27 March - 18:41

Sevington site was never designed to handle volume of imports envisaged by post-Brexit changes due in April, port’s health chief warns

An inland facility set up to carry out checks on nearly all EU meat and dairy imports coming through Dover will be unable to cope when post-Brexit rules come in next month, the port’s health authority has warned.

The Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) said the Sevington facility in Ashford, which is 22 miles inland, had not been designed to handle the scale of imports expected, and claimed its geographical position would “create an open door for disease and food fraud”.

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UK and India put free trade deal talks on ice until later this year

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 15 March - 21:00

Latest round of negotiations end without breakthrough and next round will not take place until after India’s election campaign

The UK and India have formally closed their 14th round of trade negotiations without reaching a deal and will put the discussions on ice until later this year.

The UK government ended the latest round of talks on Friday night after two weeks of intensive negotiations with Indian officials failed to bear fruit.

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Not a sausage: how latest post-Brexit checks have hit UK delis

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 9 March - 07:00

One company selling German products has not had a single delivery of wurst since January

German Deli in east London is known for its wide variety of traditional sausages, but the post-Brexit border changes brought in last month means stocks are running worryingly low.

Offering 22 types of fresh sausage, from the classic Bavarian leberwurst to the Oktoberfest currywurst, the online retailer has become popular with expats and lovers of German cuisine since it launched in 2004.

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UK negotiators fly to India in last-ditch effort to seal free-trade deal

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 5 March - 05:01

Exclusive: Team will try to resolve goods and services issues amid fears Delhi is holding out for a Labour government

British negotiators have flown to India in a last-ditch attempt to clinch a trade deal amid concerns that Narendra Modi’s administration intends to hold out for a Labour government.

A team of negotiators led by a senior civil servant flew out on Monday with a mandate to resolve the goods and services chapters, which are among the thorniest outstanding issues in the talks.

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UK gives £600m backing to Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘carbon bomb’ petrochemical plant

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 29 February - 15:35

Campaigners say Ineos project in Antwerp will turbocharge plastic production on a scale not seen before in Europe

The UK government is providing a €700m (£600m) guarantee for the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years that will turbocharge plastic production.

The huge petrochemical plant has been described as a “carbon bomb” by campaigners. Being constructed in the Belgian city of Antwerp by Ratcliffe’s company Ineos, it will bring plastic production to Europe on a scale not seen before, just as countries are trying to negotiate a binding global treaty to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution.

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UK officials recommend extending post-Brexit steel quotas

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 21 February - 17:30

Kemi Badenoch to make final decision on protections amid British industry fears of possible flood of imports

Whitehall officials have recommended extending post-Brexit steel quotas – a development that will come as a relief to the British steel industry, which had feared a rise in imports.

The “steel safeguards”, which were due to expire at the end of June, were first brought in by the EU in 2018 , which feared that countries such as China would dump excess steel on the market after sales to the US were blocked by Donald Trump.