Complex issue of food imports pushes Brussels to bend its rules on not yet talking trade with Britain writes Simon Marks for Politico

Brexit negotiators are close to an agreement on a key trade issue that diplomats anticipate will be formally wrapped up at the latest round of Brexit talks next week.

With the two sides deadlocked on major stumbling blocks such as how to calculate the U.K.’s financial obligations to the bloc — the so-called Brexit bill — the rapid progress towards an early agreement is the first concrete result from the talks, which have been running since June.

The nearly-done deal on what happens to the EU’s massive food import quotas with other countries after Brexit, is all the more remarkable because it does not conform to the EU’s strict sequencing of the negotiations.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has been adamant that he will not discuss the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU until the talks make “sufficient progress” on three separation issues — the Brexit bill, the rights of EU citizens living in the U.K. post-Brexit and the Northern Irish border. The decision on whether to move on to the next stage will be taken by EU leaders at a European Council summit in October.

As POLITICO reported in July, although trade issues are meant to fall into phase two of the negotiations, the problem of reduced-tariff import quotas raises such a strategic headache for Brussels that EU negotiators have been willing to bend the rules and aim for an early agreement. Diplomats say that the matter has been agreed at a technical level and should be formally wrapped up during next week’s Brexit negotiations.

Lamb chops offer a perfect illustration of the EU’s problem after Brexit.

Tariff rate quotas (TRQs) are mechanisms under which the EU imports agreed tonnages of meat, sugar and grains from around the world with lower-than-usual duties. Brussels, which negotiates a common trade policy on behalf of all 28 states, has 124 TRQs with major agricultural exporters across the globe.

Lamb chops offer a perfect illustration of the EU’s problem after Brexit. Currently, the EU has an agreement to buy 230,000 tonnes of New Zealand’s lamb and goat meat each year, under a quota with reduced tariffs, but Britain traditionally buys 40 percent of this.

So what does the EU do after Brexit? If Brussels spreads the U.K.’s outsize quota among the remaining 27 countries, it will infuriate Europe’s own sheep farmers whose produce would have to compete on the market with the extra supply.

The alternative is to try to divide the 230,000 tonnes between the U.K. and the EU, but this also has legal risks. Big agricultural exporters from Latin America to Australasia could always argue that they lose some of their market access under the new division and could look to sue at the World Trade Organization.

The agreement set to be formally agreed this week is that Britain will carve out and inherit a substantial part, if not all, of its quotas under the EU arrangements, several diplomats said.

“The U.K. is leaving so they can take a bit with them,” said one senior EU official briefed on quota talks. The official added that calculations on the size of the U.K.’s quota will be based on recent trade patterns.

A big push has been made in recent week to seek “convergence on a joint approach” to TRQs with the U.K. so that trade partners in Geneva can be consulted, the official said. After next week’s Brexit talks, the EU is expected to produce an official position paper soon to be sent to the WTO in Geneva as early as next month.No worse off

The EU hopes that it can avoid a big legal showdown in Geneva by citing WTO rules that countries cannot sue as long as they can be shown to be “no worse off” under the new distribution of quotas between the U.K. and EU.

One diplomat also said that big food exporters would be looking to expand their exports to the U.K. when the country negotiates its so-called “schedules” at the WTO.

Schedules are essentially national passports for entering the global trading system and the U.K. will need to negotiate them in the aftermath of Brexit. These schedules will map out Britain’s obligations in terms of tariffs, subsidies and quotas, and negotiations in Geneva will give big exporters an opportunity to wrest bigger import concessions out of Britain.

Despite the imminent agreement on TRQs, there remain severe doubts on the EU that sufficient progress can be made before October.

Britain has been working on the quota question with the EU over recent months, and a spokesperson for Britain’s Department for International Trade said London was fully engaged in resolving the TRQ problem as part of WTO talks.

“In leaving the EU, we will need to update the terms of our WTO membership where, at present, our commitments are applied through the EU as a whole,” the spokesperson said. “The UK wants to ensure a smooth transition which minimizes the disruption to our trading relationships with other WTO Members and tariff rate quotas are one of the issues that we are discussing in a cooperative and transparent way with WTO members.”

Despite the imminent agreement on TRQs, there remain severe doubts on the EU that sufficient progress can be made before October. When asked by journalists at a briefing ahead of next week’s talks whether there was enough time to reach a deal on separation issues a senior EU official said: “We have not yet encountered a situation when lack of time will prevent us from advancing [discussions]. So far, it has been a lack of substance.”

| A Politico release || August 25, 2017 |||

Writes Allan Golombek  a Senior Director at the White House Writers Group for Real Clear Markets. 

The scene in the Hamburg supermarket was stark. Row after row of empty shelves, dotted by a few products made domestically. Edeka supermarkets, the largest supermarket chain in Germany, emptied one store of every last imported good on a weekend. They were making a point. Rather than a protest against openness and diversity, it was an object lesson in the benefits we all derive from those two values. It was a defense of tolerance, but also a reminder that openness to goods and services, people and ideas is not just something we engage in to help others, but to help ourselves, directly and every day.

It is not surprising that this case for openness was made in Hamburg, a city that used to serve as a major port of departure for German immigrants to the United States, and the place widely believed to be responsible for the development of the hamburger, one of many foreign dishes that achieved enormous international popularity. Stripping the shelves of foreign-made products didn’t just demonstrate the advantage of drawing people from around the world through liberal immigration policies, as valuable as that is. It also illustrated the indispensable advantage of being free to import, utilizing resources and skills that can be found around the globe. While pro-trade politicians often try to sell free trade as a way of encouraging exports to create jobs, far more important is the fact that it makes it possible to import, enhancing choice – which is the economic purpose of working in the first place..

The ghost town image of the Edeka supermarket helped make it clear just how much we benefit from imports, of food and other goods, and how important they are to us. In the United States, the amount of imported food continues to increase as Americans consume more products that are either not locally available or not grown fast enough to meet demand. Americans import a wide variety of foods, literally from fish to nuts. Some are not grown in the United States, such as bananas and coffee. Many are made a lot more cheaply in other countries. Many are seasonal, and many new entirely to Americans (as pizza, bagels and felafel once were). Rather than a source of economic decline, two of the driving forces behind the growth of food imports are the desire to cut back on the cost of one’s food budget, and rising incomes spurring a wider desire for choice. Next time you sit down to a meal or grab a snack, ask yourself if it would be available to you if it wasn’t for global trade. No lamb from New Zealand, salmon from Norway, or pasta from Italy.

And next time you hear a politician criticize NAFTA, bear this in mind: The two largest sources of agricultural imports to the United States are its trading partners, Mexico and Canada. That includes most sugar and tropical products, such as coffee, cocoa, and rubber, and animals and animal products, including beef and veal. If your doctor has told you to eat your veggies, bear in mind that Mexico dominates vegetables imported into the United States, supplying peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, pinto beans, broccoli, and cabbage to name a few. Canada supplies carrots, cauliflower, asparagus, mushrooms and potatoes. NAFTA is good for you, physically as well as economically. And if you’re worried about the trade deficit with China, bear in mind that it includes billions of dollars worth of seafood each year, including farm-grown tilapia, shrimp, salmon and catfish.

The value of eating globally, not locally, undermines the core arguments of a growing anti-trade movement: Locavorism, which is based on the flawed premise that a diet of locally grown food offers environmental, economic and social benefits. In fact, the opportunity to import food extends our food supply chain, enhances competition and choice, delivers lower prices, and provides greater variety – the spice of life, literally as well as figuratively.

Over the years, we have been shaping a global diet. The brief removal of imported food from a supermarket’s shelf in Hamburg demonstrates its economic and cultural value to us.

Allan Golombek is a Senior Director at the White House Writers Group.

| A RealClearMarkets release  ||  August 25,  2017   |||

Whittaker's, a premium brand of chocolate in the Land of the Long White Cloud has established a foothold in the Fijian market thanks to an exclusive distribution deal with the Motibhai Group.

Whittaker's head of international markets Matt Whittaker who visited the country this week on a market-familiarisation trip, said he was very impressed with the response from Fijian customers.

"We're delighted to now have this opportunity to build our relationship with chocolate lovers in Fiji via the strong distribution network of Motibhai Group and Prouds retail outlets," he said.

Mr Whittaker said while more established brands in the Fijian market would prove to be a challenge, Whittaker's unique manufacturing process and taste would ensure local chocolate lovers would take to the brand.

"As a family and as a company, we are steadfastly committed to producing only chocolate of the highest quality.

"Whittaker's ensures quality by controlling the whole manufacturing process — from bean to bar — from our one factory in Wellington, New Zealand."

Mr Whittaker said the brand was available in 20 markets around the world with the biggest being Australia followed by Malaysia, China and Canada.

"Of strategic importance is the North American and Asian markets and for the Pacific, one of them is Fiji.

"I think Fiji is going to be exponential — we have already seen four times the sales in the first year with Motibhai and its really exciting days ahead for us.

"In the New Zealand market, we are number two approaching number one and we are market leader in the categories we compete in."

Motibhai Group director Tajesh Patel said the Whittaker's brand was already making inroads in the Fijian market.

"Whittaker's were doing some supplying to some companies in Fiji directly before but about two months ago they nominated the Motibhai Group as their distributor in Fiji," he said.

"And that's how we came into partnership with Whittaker's.

"So Motibhai is the main distributor of Whittaker's in Fiji and we will be distributing through our Prouds stores, supermarkets and in time to come petrol stations as well."

| A Fiji Times release  ||  August 24,  2017   |||

Silver Fern Farms has launched a large-scale China chilled pilot with the first sea-freight container shipment of chilled beef as well as multiple air-freight orders of beef and lamb set for customers across China.

The pilot is part of a six-month trial negotiated by the government to test chilled red meat access into the China market. While small-volume air-freight product has been sent into market, it is understood that this is the first sea-freight container to test the market says Silver Fern Farms GM Sales Grant Howie.

"It is important that during this trial period we test the market’s protocols and supply chain for chilled meat at sea-ports as well as via air-freight," Mr Howie says.

"With chilled product in China we need to test the process at scale which is why we have worked with one of our customers to take a full 20ft container of chilled product."

The first sea-freight container leaves New Zealand this week and is due to arrive into China in early September.

"Our relationship with Shanghai Maling has helped facilitate this sea-freight order. We are working with one of Shanghai Maling’s subsidiaries who will distribute Silver Fern Farms chilled beef to a number of its supermarkets in and around Shanghai.

"The cuts they are taking are important. They are primarily secondary cuts of prime Beef - cuts that would otherwise have been sold frozen at lower prices. They have the capability to position these traditional Chinese cuts at a premium in supermarkets."

Silver Fern Farms is New Zealand’s largest meat exporter to China, having achieved $316m of sales to the region in 2016. All of the product entered the market in frozen form.

Silver Fern Farms is also testing protocols for small-scale air-freight orders of beef into key food service distributors who service high-end restaurants and hotels in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and an airfreight order for lamb cuts into a major multi-national high-end supermarket chain.

"For the past 2 years we have been busy developing the premium food service market with our Eating Quality (EQ) Graded Silver Fern Farms Reserve Beef as a frozen product. Our Reserve and Angus Beef frozen programmes are aged for 21 days back in New Zealand before being shipped frozen. Now that we have the ability to ship chilled, that ageing can now occur as it is shipped to China."

"This is a complex large scale chilled pilot to test a variety of market entry options as well as a range of products. We have two air-freight orders destined for our food service customers in Shanghai. They have ordered our value added Silver Fern Farms Reserve Beef, and our food service chilled prime beef product in primary and secondary cut form. They are taking steak cuts, our Silver Fern Farms Reserve oyster blade and rump caps."

"We have also partnered with a major multi-national high-end supermarket chain for an order of lamb cuts, including premium lamb racks. We look forward to further orders at scale so we can test sea-freight container orders once the new season lamb production comes on in coming months."

| A SilverFern Farms release  ||  August 23, 2017   |||

A group of leading New Zealand cherry growers have joined together to export a premium cherry line to the international markets starting in the 2017/18 season.

"Pure Pac consists of a group of 7 passionate Cherry Growers who all own orchards in the Cromwell Area Central Otago," explains Ross Kirk, Chief Executive of Hortinvest which has been contracted as Pure Pac's project manager and packhouse manager. "What makes Pure Pac unique is all the shareholders are grower suppliers. We will grow, pack and market the fruit directly to buyers in the international market. Pure Pac have engaged an experienced team to put together their packhouse, logistics and marketing of our cherries."

As a group they currently have 70ha in production and coming into production and this year they will plant an additional 20,000 trees.

2017-18 will be the first export season for Pure Pac, however the growers have been exporting via other packers/exporters. According to Kirk they got together and decided they would like to work directly with the international market and therefore decided to invest in a state of the art packing house which will be ready for the first cherries to be processed in December 2017.

The harvest starts prior to Christmas and will run till early February.

"We have several varieties. The key export ones are Samba, Lapin, Sweetheart, Staccato and Rainier. In the first season we expect to pack 450mt and over the next 4 years anticipate volumes increasing to 1000mt per annum," said Kirk. "We are growing the varieties that suit the Asian market, they are sweet, juicy and crunchie."

Pure Pac are working with Compac Engineering to put in the latest cherry grading technology, along with some technology which is imported from Italy and France to complete the packhouse set up. The new packhouse will be capable of handling 1200mt’s over the cherry season.

"We are very excited to be launching our two brands at Asia Fruit Logistica: Pure Gold and Gold Reserve," stated Kirk. "The difference in the brands is simply the box and brand design. The quality of the cherries will be the same high quality premium cherries in each box.

"We have very strong demand from Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, we are looking to expand throughout Asia, and we would like to also work with customers from India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan."

Pure Pac will be at Asia Fruit Logisitca as part of the New Zealand Country stand. The team, including some of the grower/directors will be there to meet with customers and discuss the group's cherries and the up coming Cherry season.

| A FreshPlaza release ||  August 23, 2017   |||

It is already five months since Theresa May triggered Article 50, thereby serving the mandatory two years’ notice for Britain to leave the EU on 29 March, 2019 writes David Bulk for Yahoo Finance.

In that time there have been limited proposals formulated in terms of policy documentation – especially by the UK government.

The EU side certainly knows what it wants and most of what we hear this side of the Channel from Juncker, Verhofstadt and Barnier are edicts and demands.

Well, Britain’s very own Brexit triumvirate of May, Davis and Fox are back at work from their summer holidays; so let battle commence!

MORE: 5 things the UK needs to maintain a Green Brexit

MORE: Frankfurt and Dublin set to sweep bank jobs away from UK

The word on the street is that, despite discussion papers on transition periods for customs unions and plans to maintain equilibrium (or near enough the status quo in the case of Ireland and Northern Ireland), the UK government is a mile behind the curve in terms of preparation.

The fact that the Government, after a disastrous general election, has no overall majority, inevitably means that a ‘hard’ Brexit – or a ‘hard-nosed’ plan – should be no longer on the table for discussion.

Continue here to read the full article on Yahoo Finance  ||  August 22,  2017   |||

The first round of long-awaited talks on modernizing NAFTA finished Sunday, with Canada, Mexico and the United States issuing a statement that they had made "detailed conceptual presentations" of their positions. Negotiators from the three countries will meet again in Mexico on September 1 to continue trying to revise the trade pact. But while all say they are keen to see a new deal emerge, they still have to navigate the political risks attached to any commercial agreement.

Donald Trump´s promise to renegotiate trade deals was a key plank of his "America First" campaign platform. One of his first acts in the White House was to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with countries in Asia-Pacific and the Americas, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Meanwhile, negotiations between Washington and the European Union for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have not resumed since Barack Obama left office.

Speculation now centers on the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement, typically seen by many economists as at least a qualified success story. Since 1994, trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada has more than tripled, forming a trading bloc with a combined GDP of around 20 trillion dollars.

However, prominent representatives of both the left and right, from Bernie Sanders and Ralph Nader to Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan, have long criticized the agreement for contributing to a hollowing out of the country´s manufacturing industry and lost U.S. jobs, partly because of increased trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. Right-wingers also accuse NAFTA of undermining U.S. sovereignty and opening up the United States to what they see as an increasing threat from drugs, crime and immigration from Mexico.

From a different standpoint, even some previous advocates of NAFTA have become less enthusiastic about the deal. This is partly because the three countries have been unable to fully address challenging issues like tightened border security.

NAFTA is also seen to have stalled because Mexico, Canada and the United States have increasingly preferred to push bilateral solutions rather than addressing opportunities and problems trilaterally. A key rationale for the prevailing lack of triliteralism in the continent is that the NAFTA architects from Canada and Mexico wanted to curb EU-type political institution building they feared would lead to a Brussels-style bureaucracy dominated by Washington.

Equally, Washington has generally disliked the idea of developing any pan-North American political institutions that could rein in U.S. autonomy.

Trump jumped into this cauldron of criticism in the 2016 election campaign by calling NAFTA "the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country." In key electoral states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, his championing of an anti-international trade agenda helped win him significant support last November. (In April, Trump told Reuters that he had been "psyched" to terminate NAFTA, but changed his mind after Canada and Mexico asked for it to be renegotiated instead.)

Many U.S. businesses have urged that forthcoming negotiations should not jeopardize existing market access, and that the key negotiating principle should, in the words of United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, be to "do no harm." Now the USTR and the administration must assess exactly how much overhaul is politically necessary to meet the expectations generated by Trump´s statement that "we´re going to make some very big changes or we are going to get rid of NAFTA once and for all."

The renegotiations have high political stakes for Canada and Mexico too. If agreement cannot be reached before the Mexican presidential election on July 1, 2018, negotiators could have to deal with NAFTA skeptic and current poll favorite Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The left-wing populist has positioned himself as a critic of Trump and the U.S. president´s "campaign of hatred" against Mexico since the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

Uncertainty over NAFTA, the TPP and Trump´s trade policies in general, could create a significant political vacuum. That, in turn, could give China a gap to exploit - a gap Beijing is waiting to take. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baoding said last year, "protectionism is rearing its ugly head...China believes we should set up a new plan to...sustain momentum for the early establishment of free trade areas."

Beijing´s alternative vision includes a Free Trade Area of Asia Pacific (FTAAP), a long-term goal to link Pacific Rim economies from China to Chile that has been debated since 2004. In the shorter term, Beijing is also pushing a free trade pact, for which discussions have been underway since 2012, known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). That would include the 10 ASEAN members plus India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, but not the United States.

RCEP, which is smaller in scope to FTAAP, would create one of the largest free trade zones in the world. Collectively, RCEP countries account for around a quarter of global GDP, and some 46 percent of the global population.

While Chinese President Xi Jinping has asserted that RCEP and FTAAP do not "go against existing free trade arrangements," Beijing and Washington have for years had contrasting visions of shaping the regional order through formulation of NAFTA and TPP on one hand, and RCEP and FTAA on the other. From China´s perspective, RCEP and FTAAP would be more conducive to its national interests.

This is not least because, unlike TPP, Beijing would be explicitly part of the new economic agreements and able to shape their design by creating trade deals with China at the center. Reflecting this, former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has despaired that Washington will now "be left on the sidelines as others move forward."

Continued uncertainty over Trump´s trade stance will only increase the prospects of China taking the lead in the competition for regional trade integration. This will potentially not just consolidate Beijing´s own regional power and its global political and economic influence, but also damage hard-won U.S. credibility with its local and international trading allies. No wonder that many in Washington recognize a lot is at stake in the NAFTA talks, and that a great deal of effort will be required in coming months to see a breakthrough. (Reporting by Andrew Hammond)

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-4811154/Commentary-The-elephant-room-NAFTA-talks.html#ixzz4qTJwoPwHFollow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook  || August 21,  2017   |||

Britain has set out proposals to ensure that goods and services currently approved for sale across the UK and EU can continue to be traded after Brexit.

The plans published by Brexit Secretary David Davis were welcomed by business leaders as an improvement on EU proposals which would require separate regulatory processes on either side of the Channel from the day after UK withdrawal.

Mr Davis said the UK was now ready to begin a "formal dialogue" on elements of the future UK-EU trade relationship, such as customs.

But Brussels indicated it will continue to resist UK pressure to bring forward trade talks, insisting they must wait until after sufficient progress has been made on the divorce deal - something which one EU leader said could drag on beyond the autumn.

Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar told The Guardian: "I think that the process will definitely take more time than we expected at the start of the negotiations.

"There are so many difficult topics on the table, difficult issues there, that one cannot expect all those issues will be solved according to the schedule made in the first place."

But Downing Street said it remained "confident" of making enough progress on the issues of citizens' rights, the financial settlement and borders for the European Council to give the green light to the second phase of Brexit negotiations when it meets in Brussels in October.

Mr Davis's new position paper comes ahead of the third round of formal negotiations in the Belgian capital next week, and is expected to be followed in the coming days by further documents on issues like post-Brexit judicial co-operation, dispute resolution and data protection.

His Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) said the UK's proposals were designed to smooth the way to "the freest and most frictionless trade possible" under a new partnership with the EU.

But Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake dismissed them as a "fantasy wishlist", adding: "Nothing would provide businesses and consumers with more certainty than staying in the single market and customs union.

"That is the option this Government should be pursuing if it was serious about protecting jobs and free trade."

Britain's proposals envisage all goods placed on the market before Brexit day continuing to be sold in the UK and EU without extra restrictions or requirements after withdrawal, and state that the same principle should apply to services relating to these goods.

Approvals granted for products like cars to be sold across the EU should remain valid, and arrangements should be made to ensure continued oversight of the safety and regulatory compliance of goods like medicines.

With EU exports to the UK totalling more than £250 billion in 2016, DExEU argued that this approach would avoid "unnecessary disruption" during the move to new long-term arrangements.

A "narrow" approach to goods like agricultural products or food would risk "significant legal uncertainty and potential disruption for businesses and consumers both in the UK and the EU", the paper warned.

A separate paper recommended a reciprocal agreement on continued confidentiality for official documents shared by Britain with its EU partners while it was a member state.

Mr Davis said the papers provide "certainty and confidence in the UK's status as an economic powerhouse after we have left the EU" and make clear that " our separation from the EU and future relationship are inextricably linked".

He added: "We have already begun to set out what we would like to see from a future relationship on issues such as customs and are ready to begin a formal dialogue on this and other issues."

European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said the publication of position papers was " a positive step towards now really starting the process of negotiations".

But he said any early move to talks on trade would have to be agreed by the 27 remaining EU states, adding: "There is a very clear structure in place, set by the EU27, about how these talks should be sequenced and that is exactly what we think should be happening now.

"The important thing is to realise that the clock is ticking, that we have no time to lose and that we need to get on with it."

The CBI said the UK paper was a "significant improvement" on EU proposals which would create a "severe cliff-edge" for goods currently on the market.

But director of campaigns John Foster said the simplest way to reassure companies was f or the UK to "stay in the single market and a customs union until a comprehensive new deal is in force".

The director of EU affairs at manufacturers' trade body the EEF, Fergus McReynolds, said: "The Government's position is helpful as it reaffirms the concerns of the manufacturing sector to secure the continuity of goods and supply of services from 2019 onwards. Industry now wants to see this resolved as quickly as possible."

And Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: "Businesses here in the UK as well as on the continent will welcome the British Government's desire to maintain maximum continuity in the way goods are traded when the UK withdraws from the EU."

Ukip business spokesman Christopher Mills said: "As far as these proposals go, they appear sensible. Businesses on both sides of the Channel are looking towards the politicians to act responsibly. Today the UK has - over to you, Brussels."

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: "These papers come months after the EU published their plans and offer precious little new information or concrete proposals.

"It is increasingly clear that the Government are publishing bland, non-committal papers as a smokescreen to mask their failure to make any meaningful progress on phase one's core negotiating issues - including citizens' rights.

"Instead of preparing the ground for failure, the Government should focus on reaching an early agreement to the first stage of talks and make an early commitment to establish strong transitional arrangements."

| A BelfastTelegraph release  ||

National is promising to deliver New Zealand's boldest-ever trade push if it wins the election, creating "shiploads of jobs" and giving the economy a multi-billion dollar boost.

Trade spokesman Todd McClay says a National-led government will work to unlock markets with 2.5 billion new consumers for the benefit of large and small exporters in every region.

"This new trade access will create shiploads of jobs and be worth billions of dollars to our economy and businesses across the country," he said on Tuesday.

Most of the initiatives Mr McClay is committing to following through have already been announced and some, including TPP11, are under negotiation.

National leader Bill English, who was with Mr McClay to make the announcement in Auckland, said it was the first time the entire list of trade initiatives had been brought together.

"We hope to have significant success to help the export sector," he said.

"Labour wants to renegotiate TPP11 - if that happened, it would mean the end of it."

The list of targets for "high-quality and comprehensive" free trade agreements include:

   * The European Union

   * The United Kingdom (following Brexit)

   * Sri Lanka

   * Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay & Uruguay

Negotiations to be completed are:

   * The Trans Pacific Partnership 11

   * Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru (The Pacific Alliance)

Existing agreements to be upgraded with:

   * China

   * Singapore

   * The Association of South East Asian Nations.

Mr McClay told reporters the European Union FTA negotiations could start later this year and he wanted to complete all those that are underway within the next three years.

"We can't say we will take five or 10 years to negotiate deals... this isn't too ambitious."

| A Beehive release  ||  August 21,  2017   |||

Brexit and Ireland Britain's troubled relationship with the island next door is a problem again.

Theresa May's government has urged the European Union to allow British businesses to continue to enjoy the benefits of the free trade of goods into Europe after Britain has left the EU. Brexit secretary David Davis said:"These papers will help give businesses and consumers certainty and confidence in the UK's status as an economic powerhouse after we have left the European Union".

The Government is to publish more details of its negotiation plans for Brexit later this week. "We've published recently just in the last few days a number of papers that set out our thinking on some of those key issues for the future relationship".

Slovenia's prime minister Miro Cerar told the Guardian newspaper in an interview that not enough progress had been made to move onto discussing a trade deal, in a blow to the government, who want to begin trade talks alongside negotiations over the UK's withdrawal.

"There are so many hard topics on the table, hard issues there, that one can not expect all those issues will be solved according to the schedule made in the first place".

The European Council will decide in October if "sufficient progress" has been made in discussions so far.

"That is our aim and we are confident that we are working at a pace to be able to get to that point".

Britain is pressing Brussels to begin early talks on a long-term trade deal as part of the negotiations over the terms of Brexit.

But sources said it was up for negotiation whether ECJ rulings will apply in the two or three year transition period after 2019.

A New Zealand/UK dual national with more than 25 years' experience, Falconer will lead trade policy and the development of negotiation capability and will serve as an ambassador for Dr Fox's Department for International Trade. "So, never mind Theresa May's foolish red line; we will have the ECJ in all but name".

The proposal, unveiled in The Times today, could allow Theresa May to square the circle of getting Britain out from under the control of the ECJ while protecting free trade in the EU's single market.

The Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake MP said: "David Davis promised us "the row of the summer" over the Brexit timetable, only to capitulate weeks later to the EU's preferred timetable after a disastrous general election for his party which vastly undermined their negotiating position".

| A Hightech Beacon release  ||  August 21,  2017   |||