Deal with Norway to cut tariffs on cheese

WEST dairy farmers could benefit from a new trade deal that is set to be agreed with Norway,

Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Tariffs of up to 277 per cent on cheese exported from the UK will be cut.

Oil-rich Norway is a small, but lucrative, overseas market of just over five million people, while Iceland and Liechtenstein have a combined population smaller than that of Bristol.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss announced the deal was agreed in principle yesterday, and said it was the first to include dedicated chapters on digital trade and small businesses.

Exports to the three countries can be done using digital documents, contracts and signatures, the Department for International Trade said.

And it said the agreement significantly cuts tariffs as high as 277 per cent for exporters to Norway of West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, Orkney Scottish Island Cheddar, Traditional Welsh Caerphilly, and Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese.

There are also tariff reductions and quotas on pork, poultry and other goods, and UK wines and spirits including Scotch Whisky will also now be recognised in Norway and Iceland. Import tariffs on shrimps, prawns and haddock will be reduced, pushing down costs for UK fish processing and helping support some 18,000 jobs in that industry.

Ms Truss said: “Today’s deal will be a major boost for our trade with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, growing an economic relationship already worth £21.6 billion, while supporting jobs and prosperity in all four nations at home.”

There is also an agreement where nurses, lawyers, vets and other professionals will be able to move to the three countries without having to requalify.

The deal will allow caps on the charges mobile operators are allowed to charge each other for international mobile roaming, a world-first in an FTA.

Norway’s prime minister Erna Solberg said the deal marked “an important step forward in our relationship with the UK after Brexit”. The Norwegian Government said the deal was one of the most comprehensive free trade agreements the country has ever negotiated but it was also recognised that it could not compare to previous arrangements when the UK was still in the EU.

A statement on the Norwegian Government website said: “Prior to the UK’s exit from the EU, Norway enjoyed free movement of goods, services, capital and persons to the UK through the EEA-agreement. A free trade agreement will not provide similar access to the British market.”