Category: International Trade

Exactly two weeks ago the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 (The Act) received Royal Assent from King Charles III and will come into effect on the 20th September 2023. It sets out the basis upon which trade documents can exist and be dealt with in electronic form, such that an electronic trade ... Read more

Subject to ratification, the UK has joined the CPTPP trade pact with countries in Asia and the Pacific, including Japan, New Zealand and Australia, with whom the UK has agreed Free Trade Agreements (FTA). The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was est... Read more

A study by the Federation of Small Businesses confirms that the US, which is already the UK’s largest trading partner, tops the list for UK SMEs to trade with outside Europe. The new findings come after an FSB delegation to the USA held a series of engagements with senior officials from the ... Read more

In response to COVID developments and rising geopolitical tensions, companies may be re-shoring, or near-shoring production out of China, but the country’s dominance in world trade makes cutting it out of global supply chains impossible, say leaders of two of the world’s most important compan... Read more

The UK has reached an agreement to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, Peru, Malaysia and Chile, supporting tariff-free trade with a number of nations with which the UK does ... Read more

The Certificate of Origin (CoO) is an important international trade document which certifies that goods are wholly obtained, produced, manufactured or processed in a particular country. The current UK Certificates of Origin will be changing from 1st April. The CoO declare the ‘nationali... Read more

Business groups have welcomed the ‘Windsor framework’ deal announced on the 27th February, between the UK and EU over trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, which offer a considerable reduction in checks and documents to move goods across the Irish Sea and into the province. To avoid a ... Read more

Freeports are ‘customs free zone’, areas within the UK’s customs territory, with different customs and tax rules, which aim to promote trade and business by lowering duty, tax and paperwork costs. In March 2021, following the UK’s departure from the EU, the Government announced plans t... Read more

The move by President Xi Jinping to lift China’s zero-COVID strategy and ease travel restrictions has raised hopes that it may soften the blow of higher global interest rates, unleashing production lines and unlocking supply chains after a turbulent three years. From the 8th January 2023&nbs... Read more

For almost three years shippers, forwarders and carriers, across all modes, have battled unparalleled global supply chain disruptions and, as the massive consumer driven volumes finally subsides, some suggest that the “new normal” is manifesting on a global scale. The desire for norma... Read more

The Bank of England has predicted the UK’s recession may be the longest on record, but it is not expected to be deep and exports will play a critical role in shortening the downturn. The Secretary of State for International Trade, Kemi Badenoch, said earlier this month that we need to‘ge... Read more

Local economists insist that suggestions China production will migrate to Vietnam are overstated, despite workers not returning to factories operating in ‘closed loops’ and continuing lockdowns throughout China under the government's ‘zero COVID’ policy, most recently in Qingdao. But pr... Read more