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So far Nick Phipps has created 54 blog entries.

Policymakers must resist kneejerk changes to supply chains and global trade policy in the wake of COVID-19

29 May 2020 Policymakers should resist the urge to make kneejerk and wholesale changes to supply chains and global trade policy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, an economist with the UK Trade Policy Observatory has warned. Professor Michael Gasiorek, a trade policy expert at the University of Sussex Business School, is advising governments against making trade policy responses to the Coronavirus crisis which could have longer-lasting and potentially negative implications in the post-pandemic future for the global trading system. […]

By |2020-05-29T09:16:20+01:0029 May 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

Building Supply Chain Resilience: a reflection on ‘Project Defend’ and the reshoring of manufacturing

28 May 2020 Sam Roscoe is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and Research Leader for the Supply Chain 4.0 Hub at the University of Sussex. He is an Associate Fellow of the UKTPO. Boris Johnson has drawn up plans (codenamed Project Defend) to reduce the UK’s reliance on foreign countries for products that are deemed critical to the wellbeing of the nation. This follows a recent Fox News interview with President Donald Trump, who said “these stupid supply chains that are all over the world…..we should have them all in the United States”.  And, a recent article from The Economist (May 16th-22nd, 2020) that declared the end of globalisation, noting that the push to bring supply chains back home in the name of resilience is accelerating. Indeed, the pandemic has exposed that global supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link and is prompting a move from low-cost, overseas production towards the localisation of manufacturing.  […]

By |2020-05-28T09:54:04+01:0028 May 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|1 Comment

A global agreement to end disruption of Coronavirus medical supplies

1 May 2020 An international agreement on vital medical goods that keeps import restrictions low and constrains the use of export bans could help ensure all countries have sufficient supplies for the fight against Coronavirus, our new briefing paper proposes. According to the report, which was produced in collaboration with Global Trade Alert, a global bargain where exporting nations give assurances medical supplies will not be cut off arbitrarily and importing governments agree not to re-introduce their import restrictions would remove disruption and uncertainty around the availability of life-saving goods. […]

By |2020-05-01T10:52:58+01:001 May 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

The economic impact of COVID-19 on Airlines: why the Chancellor was right to refuse further government financial assistance

30 March 2020  Guest Blog by Ian Clarke, CEO of Excalibur Global Managed Services Ltd. Following on from the previous blog by Erika Szyszczak on the new temporary adaptation of EU state aid rules in the light of the COVID-19 economic crisis, this blog discusses why the UK should take a cautionary approach to special aid being directed to the aviation sector. […]

By |2020-03-30T12:51:37+01:0030 March 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

COVID-19 and two key supply-chains

24 March 2020 Guest blog by Dr Sam Roscoe, Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and Research Leader for the Supply Chain 4.0 Hub at the University of Sussex. COVID-19 has exposed a number of fundamental issues in grocery and pharmaceutical supply chains.  The grocery sector has been particularly hard hit because of its ‘lean’ just-in-time delivery supply chain model, panic buying and labour shortages. Over the past two decades, the UK grocery sector has adopted the lean, just-in-time, supply chain model from the automotive sector. This rapid replenishment model focuses on minimizing inventory and delivering new products to store shelves as soon as a product is purchased at the tills. The advantages of this system are lower inventory carrying costs, reduced product handling and smaller store rooms. The disadvantage, as seen today, is that any unforeseen surge in demand makes it difficult for stores to quickly replenish shelves as inventory is not readily at hand. […]

By |2020-03-24T13:59:19+00:0024 March 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|4 Comments

US is No.1 country for UK small businesses to trade with over next three years

22 January 2020 With the UK set to embark on a new era of global trade negotiations for the first time in living memory, the importance of minimising friction in trade and having zero tariffs and quotas is more critical than ever to small businesses across the UK. In conjunction with the Federation of Small Businesses, we have produced a new major report (see summary slides) highlighting what small businesses need to capitalise upon from Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). […]

By |2020-01-22T12:59:21+00:0022 January 2020|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

New UKTPO report outlines impact of Brexit Withdrawal Agreement on Welsh economy

20 January 2020 The Welsh Government has published an independent report completed by the UK Trade Policy Observatory analysing the potential implications for Wales’ external trade as a result of the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement. The UKTPO analysis identifies issues that may impinge directly or indirectly on the Welsh economy as a result of the adoption of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland as part of the Withdrawal Agreement and subsequent Bill. […]

By |2020-01-20T16:03:37+00:0020 January 2020|Uncategorised|0 Comments

Mimicking President Trump? – Trade and Politics in Japan’s Recent Export Measure

5 September 2019 Guest blog by Professor Yong-Shik Lee is Director and Professorial Fellow of the Law and Development Institute and Hiram H. Lesar Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, Southern Illinois University School of Law. In the last eighteen months, President Trump has re-introduced the use of national security arguments to restrict the USA’s international trade for commercial reasons. I recently warned[1] that the US use of security arguments to justify its additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports would create a dangerous precedent, and shortly after that, another major trading nation has indeed followed this precedent. […]

By |2019-09-05T09:29:36+01:005 September 2019|UK - Non EU|2 Comments

The US negotiating objectives for the UK-US trade deal clearly put America First.

5 March 2019 Ilona Serwicka is Research Fellow in the economics of Brexit at the UK Trade Policy Observatory. Last week, the United States published a document that set out their negotiating objectives for a trade agreement with the UK, shortly after the publication of virtually identical documents for negotiating with the EU and with Japan. Those in the UK who expected ‘special treatment’ from the US are in for a disappointment, but not a surprise (as UKTPO researchers pointed out in October 2016). In negotiating with major trading partners after Brexit, the UK is likely to be a price taker because of a power imbalance. […]

By |2019-03-05T11:17:50+00:005 March 2019|UK - Non EU|8 Comments
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