Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab believes effects of potential losses in UK trade with the EU because of Brexit can be surmounted by multiple opportunities in developing and new markets. In a recent interview with the BBC, Raab urged people to take a “10-year view” of the current troubles. When asked about warnings issued by several firms stating bureaucracy and duties would make them go out of business, or relocate to the EU, Raab blamed Brussels for “imposing” obstacles to trade.
Several firms have said their current position is untenable, since the end of the Brexit transition period in January. Raab said the government was “doing a huge amount to support them, with advice and guidance, particularly intermediaries dealing with things like custom declarations. We have always been clear that there are changes that come with exiting the transition period, and what we're trying to do is support business as best we can to manage those.”
He said such disruption should be seen in a broader context. “You can always take individual cases, and I know they matter. But overall we're in an exceptional position to grasp the opportunities of a global Britain. I think if you take a 10-year view, as well as looking at the short-term risk, which is right to do, actually the growth opportunities in the future are going to come from emerging and developing economies around the world.”
When asked if UK businesses should accept less trade with the EU, and shift their focus on areas like Asia, Raab said, “I wouldn't put it quite in those terms, but it's certainly right to say that we want to bank, if you like, the baseline of our European trade, it's very important to us, and they are obviously our neighbours. But, if you look at the opportunities for growth in the future for UK companies... the growth economies are going to come from the Indo-Pacific region.”
The Foreign Secretary also blamed the EU for many of the barriers, saying the government was seeking to “reduce and mitigate as far as we can the bureaucratic obstacles that the EU is imposing.”
