CBI: 50 YEARS OF BUSINESS INNOVATION | BRITAIN AND BEYOND
It is therefore absolutely critical that the UK
refines its approach towards the EU and embarks on constructive engagement with an economic bloc that includes some 500 million consumers. All of our key trading partners, from the USA to China, believe we should remain an influential part of a European economic union. The CBI set out the arguments in its report, Our Global Future, which is a seminal and authoritative piece of work that makes clear there is no alternative to remaining in the EU that would leave us better off.
WORLD TRADE As we look forward to the next 50 years of the CBI, I want the UK to be part of two key trade agreements that will open opportunities for British exporters. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), establishing free-trade agreements with the USA and the EU, should create a market of 800 million people. Together, the EU and the USA account for nearly half of world GDP and 30 per cent of world trade. Each day, goods and services worth €2 billion
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(£1.6 billion) are traded bilaterally, promoting economic growth and supporting millions of jobs in both economies. Independent studies estimate that TTIP could boost EU exports to the USA by 28 per cent and increase UK GDP by £10 billion a year. We would be the biggest beneficiaries of TTIP as part of the EU. It is fanciful to think that the USA would see the UK as a serious trading partner outside Europe. The UK has an essential role of being a bridge between the USA and the EU but we can only do that from within the EU. This will enable medium-sized businesses, which the CBI has done so much work to promote, to treat the EU as part of their domestic market and use that platform as a springboard to exploit opportunities in the USA and the emerging markets. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the
proposed regional free-trade agreement that is being negotiated by 12 countries across the Asia–Pacific region, the EU–India Partnership and the Japan–EU Economic Partnership, includes trade deals from which we will benefit as a member of the EU but would miss out on if we were outside it. We are never going
to compete on a cost basis with eastern Europe and the emerging powerhouses of the southern hemisphere on our own, which is why we will benefit from being part of trade partnerships with similar like-minded economies.
GLOBAL ROLE Our job over the coming two years, as we debate the UK’s role in the EU and in the wider global economy, is to help persuade our international business and investment partners that the vast majority of companies in the UK want the country to play a global, sensible, pragmatic and engaged role. We need to act as a voice for British business to ensure we engage with Europe as a constructive partner. I want to see the UK remain a key player
on the global stage, with a modest but real international influence. History tells us that our role in the world is as a small, influential and respected bastion of pragmatism, creativity and productivity. This has made us a genuinely internationally focused country; it is unthinkable to consider backing away now.
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