While the Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, investigates the possibility of the UK joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), many British businesses see trade with Europe as their priority.
Responding to a survey conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), three-quarters (76%) of some 1300 businesses identified Europe as their top export market over the next three years.
Of those, 44% identified Western Europe as their destination – whether for starting or continuing exporting – while 32% preferred Central and Eastern Europe.
Western Europe was also cited by 36% of respondents as the market they intend to import from. Businesses looking to import told the BCC that a lack of suppliers in the UK is the main reason (43%), followed by exchange rates (41%) and price (33%).
“Europe is the UK’s largest trading partner, so it will come as no surprise that businesses regard access to European markets and products as fundamental to their medium-term trading strategies,” BCC Director General Dr Adam Marshall pointed out.
Now that negotiations on the future UK-EU relationship are set to begin, he added, businesses need clarity on the practicalities of the future trading relationship between the UK and EU without delay.
UK businesses anticipate the most significant barriers to trade being tariffs (46%), customs procedures (39%) and local regulations (20%).
“High tariffs, cumbersome customs procedures, as well as conflicting regulatory requirements can deter firms from trading overseas,” Dr Marshall explained, “so a future agreement between the UK and the EU must minimise barriers and costs, to allow firms on both sides of the Channel to continue trading as freely as possible.”
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