UK eyeing export ‘superpower’ status

Trade minister Fox says country will aim to increase exports as a proportion of GDP by five percentage points

Britain will bid to become an “exporting superpower” after Brexit, Trade Secretary Liam Fox said yesterday as he unveiled the government’s future export strategy.

The country, which is set to leave the European Union in March next year, will aim to increase exports as a proportion of GDP by five percentage points over the long-term, he announced.

Britain sold a record £620 billion (Dh2.92 trillion; $795 billion, 690 billion euros) of goods and services overseas in 2017, accounting for 30 per cent of GDP, boosted by the recent weakness in the value of the pound.

The government and business groups believe it can raise this proportion to 35 per cent.

‘Setting sights higher’

“UK businesses are superbly placed to capitalise on the rapid changes in the global economic environment and I believe the UK has the potential to be a 21st century exporting superpower,” Fox told a business audience in London.

“As we leave the EU, we must set our sights high and that is just what this export strategy will help us achieve.”

The plan comes amid growing anxiety about the impact of Britain leaving the bloc without the prospect of a future trade deal.

This could hamper exports to the EU, Britain’s largest market, if tariff-free trade ends post-Brexit.

Opposition Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, a former business minister, called yesterday’s target unveiling “meaningless” in the current climate.

“The government’s own economic analysis shows that non-EU trade deals would not come close to making up for the loss of EU trade,” he said.

“Relying on a mirage of trade deals with parties outside the EU is at best a gamble, at worst fantastical.”

The government estimates that 400,000 British businesses could export but currently do not, while the CBI believes 10 per cent of companies in every region of the country fit that category.