Business News
BABC Annual Conference 2018
Post-Brexit trade deal could take years – economist
By Dan Harrison
A post-Brexit free trade agreement between the UK and the United States could take years to thrash out, a leading American economist has warned. Speaking at the BABC
conference, Joe Brusuelas, the chief economist for RSM in the US, called for a reality check following suggestions of a quick-fire trade deal between the two countries. Mr Brusuelas said differing opinions on agriculture, telecommunications and the role of technology could be sticking points during negotiations. He said: “When thinking about
what a UK-US free trade agreement would look like, the first thing you might want to think about is how long will it take to negotiate. “Nigel Farage said 48 hours, Liam Fox would say just a matter
of weeks or months. We need to have a reality check on that – this is going to take years. “What I’d suggest businesses
do is look at the US-Australian free trade negotiations which went on for a long time and left some hard feelings. “So this isn’t something that is
going to be an immediate palliative for smaller to medium enterprises here in the UK or the Midlands.” What would be the negotiating
points around which an FTA would revolve, he was asked. “From a US point of view, the
US is going to want access in terms of agriculture, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, technology and financial services. “Financial services has some
low-hanging fruit that could jumpstart negotiations and get them going. One would be remiss if they didn’t acknowledge the
Reality check: Joe Brusuelas
difficulties in agriculture and telecoms. “And then, of course, there is
the role of technology and the issue of privacy. “There are very clear
differences of orientation in opinion with respect to technology and privacy and the
role it is going to play in the new economy that will then develop. “We often talk about the US
and UK being two countries separated by a common language. “If we end up in an FTA it is
going to be two countries separated by a common language with many colourful accents.”
Conference tackles hot trade topics By Jessica Brookes
Delegates attending the BABC conference heard a number of panel discussions on topics around transatlantic trade. The first panel discussed issues
around trade productivity in the context of the industrial strategy. Professor Simon Collinson,
deputy pro vice-chancellor at the University of Birmingham, Priya Guha, ecosystem general manager at Rocketspace, Ben Hickey, managing director for the UK and Ireland division of Bristol – Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals and Matt Rayment, chief engineer for the Manufacturing Technology Centre discussed how sector deals and investment in the UK may impact future growth and prosperity. Priya Guha said: “If you look at
the industrial strategy it concentrates on four thematics: artificial intelligence, mobility, aging and clean tech. “What I think is really relevant
for the tech sector, but frankly for everybody who is interested in what economic growth will look like, is that future perspective and enabling that you have deals in place to enable those four sectors
8 CHAMBERLINK July/August 2018 Another panel took a more
detailed look at transatlantic trade for SMEs, and the opportunities for them in the US and Canada. The discussion was chaired by
‘A discussion on digital trade, cross-border data flows and cyber crime featured tech industry experts’
specifically, to thrive in the UK.” A discussion on digital trade,
cross-border data flows and cyber crime featured tech industry experts, including Karima Catherine-Goundiam, managing director or Red Dot Digital, Raj Rall, director of Hidden Fashion, Robbie Bleak, representative of the Ontario Investment Office, and Julian David, CEO of techUK. Julian highlighted the UK’s
position in digital globalisation and how they balance on the world stage in terms of wealth generated
from data and how data may affect trade. He said: “The UK economy is
about three percent of global GDP, but we are only 12 per cent of global data flows. That tells you a couple of things, the first is that we are a trading economy. “The second is the types of
industries that we represent, which are not just industries around products, but very much about the services associated with them. It is now becoming about data, and business to business data.”
John Simmons, minister counsellor for commercial affairs at the US Embassy, Christy Woskobojnik, tax manager for Dyke Yaxley LLC, Simon Hall, deputy director for UK regions for Midland Engine, David Springsteen, Principal – Global Tax Services at CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, Karima from Red Dot Digital and Daniel Entwistle, President and co – founder at Curium Solutions US. Another panel heard from three
companies on the future of design and innovation. Chris Gubbey, CEO of London EV Company, discussed the innovative new electric taxi they have designed and now brought to London. Raj and Kiran Rall, directors of
Hidden Fashion, discussed how they have utilised e–commerce and digital methods to access international markets. The final speaker, Dr Faz
Chowdhury, CEO of Nemaura Pharmacy, highlighted how medical technology has developed to improve the way vaccines are distributed and implanted.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
