What does the British public think about trade? In a democracy, what people think or feel about any area of policy really matters. Trade policy is an external wing of economic policy, and everyone cares about whether the government's actions are making them richer or poorer, but we also care about how trade is interlinked with climate change, the environment, food standards, or animal welfare.
In this episode, our speakers provide insights and analysis on what the public thinks about trade, how we know what the public thinks and whether their views are listened to. With Alan Winters (CITP), George Holt (Trade Justice Movement), Liam Campling (Queen Mary University London) and our host Chris Horseman (Borderlex).
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36:51
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36:51
The Multilateral Trading System under threat: actions and reactions
In this special extended episode, recorded in front of a live audience at the World Trade Organization Public Forum, we consider the present state of the multilateral trading system and the role of the WTO.
The majority of international trade, around 72%, is being conducting on WTO terms. But pretty much every nation has had to face the consequences of a unilateral withdrawal from Most Favoured Nation principals by the world’s biggest economy: the US. This challenge from Washington is only the latest in a string of issues to confront the WTO, which has only ratified two multilateral agreements in 30 years, and hasn’t had a functioning Appellate Body to underpin the enforcement of multilateral trade rules for the last six years.
How should WTO members respond? Should the rules be upheld, or do they need changing? To discuss these questions and those from our live audience are H.E Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota (WTO), Kelly Ann Shaw (AKIN), Mona Paulsen (London School of Economics) and our host Chris Horseman (Borderlex).
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1:00:41
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1:00:41
Making international trade work properly: conformity assessment
This podcast discusses conformity assessment which is important to ensure manufacturers of industrial goods comply with international standards, and that compliance is verified. The issue of mutual recognition of conformity assessment comes into play for exports. If country A recognizes that country B's conformity assessment regime is as good as its own, then exporters in country B should only have to pay once for their products to be evaluated before they can export to the other country, thus saving them money.
The UK currently has mutual recognition agreements, with a number of countries, but not with the UK's biggest export market - the EU - even though the UK was a full participant in the EU conformity Assessment Regime up until Brexit. What are the prospects for a UK-EU agreement on conformity assessment? What are the barriers to this and how much does this impact EU-UK trade? Sharing their perspectives are Richard Collin (UKAS), Peter Holmes (UKTPO, University of Sussex), Jacques Pelkmans (CEPS), Fergus McReynolds (Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade) and our host Chris Horseman (Borderlex).
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38:52
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38:52
US trade policy in the first 6 months of Trump's second term
July 20, 2025, is six months since Trump’s inauguration for a second term in the White House. Since then, all previous norms of trade engagement have gone out of the window with the imposition (or threat) of tariffs on goods at rather arbitrary levels and out of line with WTO rules. Almost every supplier country now has its own personalised tariff rate – and some of the world’s least developed countries face the highest tariffs.
In this episode, Meredith Crowley (CITP/University of Cambridge), Stephanie Rickard (London School of Economics), Chad Bown (Peterson Institute for International Economics) and our host Chris Horseman (Borderlex) discuss what Trump might be trying to achieve with these measures. They also analyse the impact on America’s trading partners – and the global trading system – and how both may react to these challenges from Washington.
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43:56
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43:56
UK-EU agrifood (SPS) negotiations
In May, Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched a reset of the EU-UK relationship which included an agreement to begin negotiations on a deal on agri-food standards - an ‘SPS agreement’.
The talks offer the prospect of a big reduction in the bureaucratic restrictions that have festooned cross-Channel agri-food trade since Brexit, but there are still a lot of questions about exactly how. In this podcast, Emily Lydgate (CITP, University of Sussex), Alex Carson-Taylor (international trade specialist), Sue Davies (Which?) and our host Chris Horseman (Borderlex) discuss the potential limitations inherent in the approach which London and Brussels have embarked on, the pitfalls that the negotiators might need to avoid, what it all means for Northern Ireland trade and the prospects for agri-food deals with other countries.
Brasil