The government has put growth at the heart of its agenda and international trade is a clear lever for achieving this. Indeed, research from the Social Market Foundation has found that increasing the number of SMEs that export by 70,000 could add £9.3 billion a year to national income and create 152,000 additional jobs.
UK exports have stagnated in recent years though, in part due to the country’s withdrawal from the EU, and also due to the increasingly complex and uncertain global economic picture. However, the increasing digitalisation of trade, including through e-commerce platforms and marketplaces, should make exporting easier than ever.
As part of the ‘E-Commerce Week’ programme of events being led by members of the E-Commerce Trade Commission, the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade and Alibaba.com hosted a free webinar, addressing the barriers that have emerged for online trade, as well as recommendations for overcoming them.
The session covered:
- The rise of non-tariff barriers for online trade
- New challenges for online trade in the second Trump presidency
- Practical support available to SMEs from government and the e-commerce industry
- How the UK government can better facilitate online trade in the future
