About Michael Gasiorek

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So far Michael Gasiorek has created 90 blog entries.

China and the WTO

10 December 2021 Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex and L. Alan Winters is Professor of Economics and Founding Director of UKTPO China acceded to the World Trade Organisation twenty years ago. Yet despite being a member of the international trading club for two decades, China’s ‘role’ in the trading system continues to generate controversy  across a range of areas such as the alleged support to state-owned enterprises boosting their international competitiveness, restrictions on foreign direct investment in China and the ineffective intellectual property protection in China. In addition, and sometimes conflated with trade, there are technology-related security concerns and human rights abuses, notably with regard to the Uyghurs. The Covid-19 pandemic has also raised worries in some quarters about the vulnerability of supply chains, including over-reliance on particular suppliers such as China in critical sectors. […]

By , |2025-07-18T09:53:34+01:0011 December 2021|UK - Non EU|0 Comments
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Briefing Paper 64 – UK POLICY ON CARBON LEAKAGE

The idea of introducing a Border Carbon Adjustment has been raised by various countries and major trading partners of the UK, most notably the EU, with its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. This Briefing Paper seeks to address the possible implications of a border carbon adjustment mechanism for the UK. We examine the potential impact on specific industries and consider implications of cooperation with the EU on ETS schemes and BCAs, the pros and cons to the UK of applying such a new type of policy tool and for maintaining trade, investment and job stability in the UK, and with trading partners, and the extent to which it might counter the problem of carbon leakage. Read Briefing Paper 64: UK POLICY ON CARBON LEAKAGE

By , , |2024-11-20T13:03:10+00:001 December 2021|Briefing Papers|0 Comments
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A sprat over nothing?

29 October 2021 Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. The impounding of a UK fishing boat by the French authorities on Thursday is symptomatic of the tensions in the wider political relationship between the UK and France, which goes beyond the implementation of the fisheries part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with the EU. It is also symptomatic of the political importance of the fisheries sector on both sides of the Channel. Brexit was about ‘taking back control’, and with regard to fishing, for the UK Government, that meant taking back control of UK waters. The actual agreement, however, fell far short of what the fisheries industry had hoped for. […]

By |2025-07-18T09:56:49+01:0029 October 2021|UK- EU|0 Comments
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BP 60 – CPTPP and agri-food regulation: Crossing the EU-exit rubicon?

Download Briefing Paper 60 Briefing Paper 60 – July 2021 Emily Lydgate and Michael Gasiorek Key Points Introduction Does CPTPP threaten UK food standards? Access to the regulatory/risk assessment process Differences between the CPTPP SPS Chapter and existing UK FTAs Does CPTPP accession prevent the UK from agreeing to continued regulatory alignment with the EU? Conclusion Key Points This Briefing Paper is part of a pair of papers that looks at the strategic choice to accede to CPTPP as part of a larger symbolic move away from the EU and its regulatory model. This paper considers CPTPP and UK agri-food regulation. Briefing Paper 61 examines the impact of CPTPP on UK digital trade. Acceding to CPTPP underscores that the UK needs to decide – and defend – its approach to agri-food standards domestically. Signing up to particular regulatory principles in any given FTA (in this case the CPTPP) may constrain domestic policy, and also what the UK can subsequently agree to with other partners in future FTAs. Failing to adequately understand or anticipate the interests of CPTPP Parties could prove detrimental to upholding the UK’s strategic objectives, including maintaining current levels of protection in food standards and safety. [...]

By , |2025-12-12T11:34:39+00:0028 July 2021|Comments Off on BP 60 – CPTPP and agri-food regulation: Crossing the EU-exit rubicon?
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Honesty is such a lonely word…

22 July 2021 Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) at the University of Sussex. L. Alan Winters is Professor of Economics and Founding Director of the UKTPO. The UK Government’s command paper on Northern Ireland published yesterday (21 July 2021) is significant in four regards. First, because it explicitly recognises – at length – that the Protocol is not working (at least not for the UK) and needs to be modified in form or in implementation. This is almost certainly correct. […]

By , |2025-07-18T10:00:14+01:0022 July 2021|UK- EU|100 Comments
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Briefing Paper 60 – CPTPP AND AGRI-FOOD REGULATION: CROSSING THE EU-EXIT RUBICON?

The influence of trade agreements in shaping UK food safety and standards has become almost existential in defining the UK’s post-EU identity. Acceding to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is far from ideology-free: it symbolises the UK’s desire for regulatory independence from the EU and sets out a new post-Brexit direction. In this Briefing Paper, we look whether CPTPP accession seems likely to lower UK food standards and prevent the UK from agreeing to continued regulatory alignment with the EU. The answer is, not necessarily, if the UK Government communicates clearly and explicitly to CPTPP parties its intent to maintain its current regulatory approach, preferably through the use of so-called side letters. Read Briefing Paper 60: CPTPP AND AGRI-FOOD REGULATION: CROSSING THE EU-EXIT RUBICON?

By , |2024-11-20T13:04:49+00:001 July 2021|Briefing Papers|0 Comments
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UK-Australia FTA – Elbow bumps and all

16 June 2021 Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. Guillermo Larbalestier is Research Assistant in International Trade at the University of Sussex and Fellow of the UKTPO. Indications of a trade deal between the UK and Australia first surfaced soon after the Brexit referendum. This week it was announced that the two nations had agreed on the broad terms of the deal. The news was accompanied by images of PM Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, bumping elbows (the new handshake, if you will) and exchanging chocolate bars over baskets of British and Australian products. The deal has significance for several reasons. First, it is the first trade deal outside the EU that was designed from scratch. So far, UK trade agreements with other non-EU countries have been “continuity agreements” that were almost entirely based on pre-existing deals between the EU and the other nations (we include UK-Japan as de facto in this category). Secondly, it signifies the UK’s continued commitment to liberalising and opening trade, particularly with those countries with shared values, as part of its post-Brexit and Global Britain campaign. […]

By , |2025-07-18T14:59:22+01:0016 June 2021|UK - Non EU|13 Comments
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BP 59 – G7 Leaders should discuss international trade (seriously)

Download Briefing Paper 59 Briefing Paper 59 – June 2021 Ingo Borchert, Michael Gasiorek, Emily Lydgate, L. Alan Winters Key Points Introduction WTO reform: Plurilateral Agreements Trade and Health Digital Trade Trade and Climate Policy Conclusion Editorial Note Key points For the first time, the G7 has an explicit ‘trade track’ as part of its discussions. This opens the door to cooperation and progress in a range of key areas. International trade is increasingly about services, digital products and delivery, domestic regulation, and links to non-trade areas such as health and climate change.  The WTO is struggling to keep up. The UK should use its G7 Presidency to help overcome its slow progress by leading the G7 to create a system to facilitate open plurilateral agreements (OPAs). In addition to discussions on the role that trade can play in addressing the COVID pandemic, G7 leaders should recognise that trade and investment agreements need to make it easier for governments to pursue legitimate health policies with regard to non-communicable diseases in non-discriminatory and minimally trade-distorting ways. The G7 can also advance the possibility of future policy coordination over data regulation by including specific policies and recommendation on digital trade [...]

By , , , |2025-12-12T11:51:55+00:009 June 2021|Comments Off on BP 59 – G7 Leaders should discuss international trade (seriously)
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Briefing Paper 59 – G7 LEADERS SHOULD DISCUSS INTERNATIONAL TRADE (SERIOUSLY)

International trade in a digital world is increasingly influenced by domestic regulation and is linked to non-trade areas such as health or climate change.  This makes it difficult for the WTO’s consensus- and trade-focused structure to make swift progress.  This Briefing Paper looks at how the G7 leadership across all four Trade Tracks could provide the necessary impetus for multilateral or open plurilateral solutions, in order to avert further fragmentation of the trading system. Read Briefing Paper 59: G7 LEADERS SHOULD DISCUSS INTERNATIONAL TRADE (SERIOUSLY)

By , , , |2024-11-20T13:05:13+00:002 June 2021|Briefing Papers|0 Comments
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Two months in: the impact of Brexit on UK trade

20 April 2021. Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics and Director of the UKTPO. Yohannes Ayele is Research Fellow in the Economics of Brexit at the University of Sussex and Fellow of the UKTPO. A decline in trade with the EU was expected following the coming into force of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and the EU on the 1st of January. Nevertheless, when the UK January trade figures were released in early March, almost unanimously commentators were surprised by the extent of the decline. We now have the data for February and so in this blog we update the numbers and discuss their significance. […]

By , |2025-07-18T10:05:10+01:0020 April 2021|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|17 Comments
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