The view from China

Subdued mood music for foreign businesses

The month began by marking the one hundredth anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party on 1 July. But the hoped-for clarity on border re-openings, dependants’ and business visa application procedures that we thought might emerge after the anniversary have yet to be seen.

Indeed, with a tightening of tax regulations due to come in next year for expatriates resident in China the general mood music for foreign businesses has been fairly subdued of late.

Emissions trading

In last month’s overview we mentioned that China would be opening its emissions trading market in late June, however this has been delayed by around a month. The delay has been in part due to the 1 July CCP anniversary celebrations and also due to the size and complexity of putting the emissions trading scheme in place.

The UK has been instrumental in sharing ETS best practice both with China and South Korea over previous years and is likely to continue to support similar initiatives as ETS develops across the region.

The CBI attends the Eco Forum Global

The annual Eco Forum Global has just taken place in Guiyang, Guizhou province, that brought together policy makers, academia, international NGOs and business.

The CBI joined the Eco Forum this year for the first time, providing inputs from its Chief Economist Rain Newton Smith and a keynote address highlighting the role that both business and business organisations can play in jointly tackling climate change and protecting biodiversity.

Indeed, the UK was a key contributor to the summit, with HM Consul Stephen Ellison co-chairing a biodiversity roundtable on the Dasgupta Report with key interventions from Dr Dasgupta himself, HMA Caroline Wilson and Ma Jun, China’s leading environmental advocate.

New Ambassadors

The new Chinese Ambassador to the UK, HE Zheng Zeguang, is now established in post in London and is keen to learn more from CBI members, so please get in touch if you would like to engage with Ambassador Zheng or his trade and investment team.

Across the ASEAN region the CBI has been learning more about the priorities and focus of Ms. Laure Beaufils, incoming British Ambassador Designate to the Philippines. Business and the environment will form the mainstays of her ambassadorial work in the months ahead and she is keen to hear from companies either looking to invest or with experience of doing business in the Philippines.

Please do get in touch with the CBI team in Beijing if you would like to connect with Ms. Beaufils or her team.

The view from India

Rounding up member input for the UK-India FTA consultation

After conducting two roundtables (on manufacturing and services), delivering a successful session on UK-India relations with the HM Trade Commissioner for South Asia, Alan Gemmell, and running follow-ups with several participants, we are now in the position to begin drafting the CBI submission to the UK-India FTA consultation.

The key themes emerging through both roundtables and the HMTC session included divergences in international, national, and state-level regulations and standards, high tariffs, data localisation requirements, testing and certification issues and complex IP processes, among other areas. Members also identified opportunities especially in areas of collaboration like in R&D to help boost innovation for both countries.

We envisage a draft of the submission will be shared with members over the next week, to obtain further member feedback and ensure that we put forward the right business asks into shaping this FTA. There is still time to get any written input to us so we can use this as an opportunity to be a unified business voice in identifying key challenges and opportunities that can make business easier and increase bilateral trade and investment.

Get involved

We will be sending the finalised submission back to DIT by the end of July.

If you would like to input into the CBI's response, here's how you can get involved.

The view from the USA

CBI engagements

CBI Director-General Tony Danker joined a virtual event with Sard Verbinnen to discuss the state of the UK-US relationship after the G7 Summit on 13 July 13. He was joined as a co-panellist by former Deputy United States Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro.

CBI Washington head John Dickerman joined Irwin Mitchell’s Around the World in 80 minutes webinar on 7 July to talk about the Biden administration’s agenda and how UK-US relations are developing this year.

John also joined Antony Philipson, former UK Trade Commissioner for North America, for a roundtable on the future of US-UK trade after Brexit, that was hosted by Barclays on 16 June.

Get involved

The CBI has recently completed its submissions to the government on the upcoming UK-Canada and UK-Mexico free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. This will not be the final segment of our consultation with government on these potential FTAs, so if your business has any specific interests, please get in touch.