The EU continues to progress efforts to protect its industrial base from Chinese competition, with further ‘Made in Europe’ procurement plans announced yesterday.
The UK prime minister Andy Burnham has already raised concerns about the impact of such proposals on British manufacturing, including steel, and will need to be realistic about the extent to which the country’s relationship with the EU can be enhanced ahead of an upcoming leaders’ summit, according to officials in Brussels.
Also today in trade, there’s two UK government announcements about open general export licences (OGELs).
Made in Europe latest
The European Commission (EC) yesterday (9 September) announced further measures around public procurement.
Under the latest plans, reported in the Guardian, national authorities and public bodies, including schools and hospitals, will “be encouraged to buy goods and services made in Europe”.
“Purchasers can have a more preferential approach to European bids [and] restrict or reject bids from countries which do not have a public procurement agreement or do not play by binding rules in terms of public procurement internationally,” said EC official Stéphane Séjourné to reporters yesterday.
The latest proposals, which also included measures to simplify bureaucracy for businesses according to Reuters, seek to put more emphasis on public procurement being done on the basis of quality rather than cost.
The ‘Made in Europe’ plans are a key element of the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act that was published in March this year. Procurement will also be a key part of a new European innovation act that was also announced yesterday.
Under this latest proposed regulation, “Europe's most innovative ideas [will] be developed, financed and scaled up in Europe”, unlocking “€10.2 billion per year in additional financing” and generating around “€35 million in administrative cost savings”.
Realism needed on UK-EU summit
EU officials have also told Politico that a wider ‘reset’ of the bloc’s trading relationship with the UK is not likely to be announced in full at this year’s leaders’ summit, which is expected to happen in November.
They said that British red lines are making it unlikely that a substantial deal will be announced at the meeting, with more iterative progress more likely.
“The feeling is that’s one for another day — maybe the 2027 summit,” the official said of a broad economic agreement.
Politico reports that an expected “landing zone” for negotiations in November will be progress on the pledges from last year’s summit, which are reducing sanitary and phytosanitary trade friction for agrifoods, linking carbon markets and youth mobility.
OGEL updates from government
In its latest Notice to Exporters, the Export Control Joint Unit has announced that the Global Combat Air Porgramme OGEL has been updated “to support the next phase of the programme, including new supply chain destinations”.
It also announced a new OGEL allowing the “export and transfer of specified military goods, software and technology under the ‘de minimis’ provision of the Agreement on Defence Export Control”.
The ‘de minimis’ principle referred to is defined in Article 3 of the Agreement.
For more information on how to ensure compliance with export controls, read our free introductory guide which was updated this week.
Also in the trade news today
· Two Glasgow-based directors of YSK Enterprises Limited have been disqualified from being directors until 2035, after “importing more than 350,000 vapes disguised as medical equipment in £15m tax evasion scheme”
· The top candidate to become chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), LSE professor Ricardo Reis, has been ditched by the Washington body after he was found to have made “critical remarks” about the Trump administration’s tariff policies, according to the FT
· Analysis from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, reported in the Guardian, has found that “positive tipping points” are being reached in the development of systems to repair damage caused to the environment by climate change, including the cost of clean energy
Yesterday in trade
· The UK updated its sanctions on Iran
· Several European countries followed the UK in implementing new trade sanctions on illegal Israeli West Bank settlements
· The US introduced further retaliatory tariffs on Canada
