The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Free trade pact ‘to benefit key sectors’
Scotch whisky and the computer games industry have been tipped to be among the main beneficiaries of plans to join the Transpacific Partnership.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss highlighted export “opportunities” for the sectors after confirming that formal negotiations could start in the spring.
The group includes countries such as Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Canada and Chile, who have all signed up to a trade agreement.
Ms Truss said the post-brexit move would lower barriers to businesses, including those in Scotland.
Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sky News, she said: “This is a really fast-growing group of countries.
“Some countries like Mexico and Malaysia, they are rapidly rising up the global league tables.
“What we want to do is hitch Britain to those fast-growing economies, and we’ll see reduced tariffs on things like whisky, cars, computer games technology.
“That will enable British business to export more to those countries. And unlike the EU, there aren’t the strings attached.
“So we wouldn’t have a court making judgments, we wouldn’t have any control over our borders lost, we wouldn’t be paying any money in.
“So this is all about lowering those barriers so that we can get more of our fantastic British products into those fast-growing markets.”
The games sector is booming in Scotland, particularly Dundee, and a report from trade association TIGA, published last year, showed jobs growth in the industry of 17% over an 18-month period in Scotland.
Ms Truss singled out Scotch whisky as a sector that would receive a boost under the plan.
“For example, in Malaysia, currently they are paying over 100% tariffs on whisky,” she said.
“If we could get those tariffs reduced, it means more exports, more opportunities for the Scotch industry in Scotland.”
She added: “These things are always difficult to assess. We will produce a scoping study when we start the formal negotiations, which is likely to be later on in the spring.
“But fundamentally what it is about is lowering barriers to opportunities for British businesses.”
Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested the Scotch whisky industry could be in line for financial support in the upcoming Budget.
The sector has been hit by US export tariffs and the pandemic over the last year, putting the future of some distilleries in doubt.
Former US president Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Scotch whisky and a number of other British exports in October 2019 as retaliation for the EU’S illegal subsidies to plane-maker Airbus.