A bilateral agreement between the UK and France could offer Britain its best opportunity for streamlining trade with the EU, with officials from bloc countries and Whitehall set to meet for what are being billed as “reset” talks in May.
Paul Lavery, global CEO of logistics operator Clover, said that while France would not be able to lift any tariffs not associated with member states, it would be able to cut the post-Brexit red tape for those shipping into France from the UK.
“Britain and France see the highest volumes, so this is an obvious point to reach some form of trade facilitation agreement and, if it was an agreement reached with France – which is a major voice in the EU – I think it would add some clout,” Mr Lavery told The Loadstar.
Mr Lavery said he saw no impediment to this beyond politics, and he believed such an agreement would only undermine the position of the EU if it included elements relating to duties and tariffs cargo owners paid to ship into the EU.
“Brexit was a political issue, so it will be impacted by the political temperature in the moment, and I think we can say that the temperature has been dialled down recently, and the work has been on creating conditions conducive to an agreement,” he continued.
“From our perspective, more than any costs involved in moving goods into the EU following the UK’s divorce. the biggest issue has been the red tape involved and the associated delays.”
Mr Lavery’s position reflected concerns raised by other shippers and logistics operators The Loadstar has spoken to since a trade and cooperation agreement was reached between the then Tory government and the EC in 2020.
“Any agreement is always going to boil down to Brexit having been an acrimonious divorce, and it’ll be from this point that all discussions will return. I think, with the ‘reset’, you’ll see every aspect of it has to be right before an agreement is reached,” he added.
But, he added, that considering the changing shape of global trade, Europe and the UK were likely to want to find some way of working together, particularly as they look at ways to grow their economies and support their small and medium businesses.
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