🕒 Article read time: 3 minutes
Board of Trade report claims to reveal UK’s true exporting potential
In the same week that the Office for National Statistics revealed that UK exports to the EU were down by 40% in January 2021, the government released new research that estimates that nearly 6.5 million jobs in the UK are supported by exports.
Commissioned by the Department for International Trade, it claims to reveal the true value of exporting-led jobs to the UK economy and helps inform the discussion around the untapped exporting potential of businesses across the UK.
The report estimates that median wages in jobs directly and indirectly supported by exports were around 7% higher than the national median and that more jobs (3.7 million) are supported by exports to the rest of the world than to the EU (2.8 million).
GLOBAL BRITAIN, LOCAL JOBS
The new research is accompanied by a new Board of Trade report – Global Britain, Local Jobs. This prescribes a series of policy fixes to unlock the UK’s full exporting potential, which will facilitate a trade and jobs-led recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This includes boosting the UK’s role as a global hub for services and digital trade, pursuing new trade deals with countries beyond Europe, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, and greater support to help businesses adopt new export targets.
BOARD SEES BREXIT AS CHANCE TO BOOST TRADE
Led by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss MP, the Board of Trade views the UK’s departure from the EU as an opportunity to deepen trade liberalisation and boost the role trade plays in the economy. It maintains that the UK should follow the example of countries like Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, who have all used trade liberalisation to spur growth and capture global market share.
The report recommends forging deeper trade ties with faster growing nations outside Europe, arguing that nearly nine tenths of world growth is expected to be outside the EU in the next five years.
RIDING THE DIGITAL AND GREEN WAVES
With the exporting potential of the green economy set to be £170 billion per year by 2030, the report advocates that the UK should capitalise on the digital and green waves and lead the charge for a more modern, fair and green World Trade Organization (WTO) by working with allies on industrial subsidies and other related issues.
The report was launched at a virtual Board of Trade meeting last Wednesday (10 March 2021), hosted by Truss, and will be sent to MPs and Parliamentarians.
MINISTERIAL BACKING
“This report shows how Global Britain will deliver jobs and growth across the UK, particularly in areas like the north-west and north-east of England,” said Liz Truss MP, International Trade Secretary. “Export-led jobs are more productive and higher paying, but currently too few businesses export and our economy would benefit from being more international. This potential can be liberated through more trade deals, boosting our role as global hub for digital and services trade, and by pursuing policies that drive an exports-led recovery.”
“The opportunity we have as an independent trading nation is huge,” Truss continued. “[This] report outlines how we can do things differently and capitalise on defining trends like the emergence of Asia’s middle classes and rapid growth in the Indo-Pacific.”
*www.gov.uk/government/publications/board-of-trade-report-global-britain-local-jobs
Published On: 18/03/2021 17:00:02
Comments Section
If you are a Logistics UK member login to add comments.
