The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade was proud to launch a new report offering recommendations on how to strengthen UK-EU trade and cooperation.
China feels the strain of US tariffs as export growth slowed, while the UK’s new business and trade secretary is relaunching talks with the Asian nation. There’s also an update to the list of actors sanctioned under the UK’s Russian Sanctions Regime.
The big picture: As the review of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) approaches in 2026, both parties have the opportunity to take stock of what could be fine-tuned in their trading relationship.
Helpfully, the Chartered Institute has published a report with a set of eight recommendations on just how this improvement can be achieved using the TCA review.
That report: ‘Reimaging UK-EU Trade and Cooperation’, co-written with Independent Economics, was launched in the House of Commons this week (8 September) over a breakfast roundtable attended by industry leaders and MPs, including EU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Trade & Investment Mike Reader.
You can learn more here.
Good week/bad week: Some good news for Teesside this week, as the government is set to confirm the region as an AI growth zone, amid an ongoing bid for an ex-industrial site to be used for a data centre.
Mayor of Tees Valley, Lord Ben Houchen, said that the centre could “almost double the size of the whole of the data centre economy in the whole of the UK”.
It was also a good week first week for AI advocate, and new business and trade secretary, Peter Kyle, whose success in China you can read about below. Our profile on the new department head is also available here.
A bad week for China however, as export growth slowed and the US stepped up efforts to encourage other nations to apply tariffs on the Asian nation.
Exports grew 4.4% in dollar terms last month compared to the previous year, but were behind the 7.2% recorded in July, according to the FT. Despite tariff truces limiting levies on goods to 30% on Chinese imports to the US, shipments are still down by 33%.
The news follows Mexico’s decision to also slap 50% tariffs on China, with treasury secretary Edgar Amador describing the decision as “within the discussion and future commercial conversations with our North American partners”, suggesting the US influenced the new rates. Beijing described Mexico as acting "under coercion to constrain China", the Guardian reports.
US president, Donald Trump, also agitated for first the EU and now G7 nations to impose 100% tariffs on both China and India in a bid to crack down on purchases of Russia oil, funding the nation’s war in Ukraine.
How’s stat? 7 years. That’s how many years it’s been since the UK’s last trade dialogue with China.
On Wednesday (10 September) it was announced that trade talks have been relaunched, following Kyle’s trip to Beijing for a convening of the UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO).
The trade chief said that “serious and strategic engagement with the world’s foremost economic players is what will deliver for working people and businesses across the UK”.
JETCO summits were suspended by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2019, following Chinese repression of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Quote of the week: “We are now five years into the UK-EU Agreement, ten years on from the UK’s decision to leave the EU, and it’s clear that businesses, especially SMEs, still face significant challenges when trading with our closest and largest partner.
“However, as our report identifies, there are significant opportunities to make trade work better for both UK and EU exporters, reducing friction and restoring the conditions for growth.”
Chartered Institute director general Marco Forgione on the significance of the new report on the EU-UK relationship.
The week in customs: On Friday (12 September) the government announced that it’s adding 27 individuals, three entities and 70 ships to the UK Sanctions List under the Russia Sanctions Regime.
The new additions are visible here.
What else we covered: This week saw European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen deliver her ‘state of the union’ address to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. You can read more about her speech and ongoing tensions across a number of European capitals in this Trade Insights.
Elsewhere, we looked at one of the Chartered Institute’s key recommendations: implementing a UK-EU Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area, in a ‘Trade Explained’ feature.
There’s also an opinion piece by customs practice director Anna Doherty on the importance of the voluntary customs standard for intermediaries, with insight into how you can share your views and shape the standard.
