UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch has achieved the removal of trade barriers worth over £2.2 billion for UK businesses in her first 200 days in office. The Department for Business and Trade has a global network of specialists working to remove obstacles, including bureaucracy, red tape, and bans, that stop businesses from selling abroad by engaging with governments worldwide to identify and resolve issues.

Barriers Successfully Removed

Earlier this year, Badenoch committed to lifting 100 of the most significant barriers, and some of those successfully targeted in the last 200 days include:

  • Removing a ban on importing luxury products, including toys, diamonds, and colour TVs, to Nepal.
  • Reducing registration requirements for pharmaceutical products to Vietnam.
  • Relaxing the foreign ownership cap on renewable energy projects in the Philippines, allowing UK companies to invest in the development of solar, hydro, tidal, and wind energy.
  • Ensuring recognition of British education qualifications for UK teachers to teach in Thailand.
  • Lifting the ban on certain pork products to South Korea, including bacon, ham, and pork sausages.
  • Allowing the export of pet food to Chile.
  • Allowing teachers from West Java, Indonesia, to complete maritime training programmes in the UK, after acceptance of UK maritime qualification standards benefiting the City of Glasgow College.
  • Supporting companies to access financial products in Mauritius and supporting further development of the local financial market.
  • Review of regulations, such as the price threshold for the sale of refurbished mobile phones to Turkey.
  • Allowing certification companies to access the Brazilian market and speeding up approval processes in the automotive sector.

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch stated that it is a priority to knock down the barriers holding back British businesses from selling more of their goods and services worldwide, creating new jobs and paying higher wages. She said, “As an independent trading nation, Britain can now get to grips with these blockages. So I’m very proud that since becoming Trade Secretary, we’ve been able to unlock billions for the UK economy, and I look forward to smashing even more barriers to ensure our businesses thrive.”

Impact on British Businesses

The removal of trade barriers has been welcomed by British businesses. The Renewables Consulting Group, a specialised expert services firm focused solely on the global renewable energy industry, and Environmental Resources Management (ERM) welcomed the lifting of the ban on foreign investment in renewable energy in the Philippines, saying it had already generated interest from potential investors that could boost the country’s transition to clean energy sources like wind and solar.

Vegeco Ltd, a specialist vegan company supplying quality ethical, eco-friendly and vegan products, welcomed the new opportunity to export pet food to Chile.

The Department for Business and Trade has also led the way in lifting the ban on British beef and lamb in Japan, securing approval for UK pork exports to Taiwan, ensuring the export of pet supplements to India, and agreeing on a new certification system with China to allow the export of cruelty-free cosmetics for the first time.

Contacting the Department for Business and Trade

Not all trade barriers that have been removed can have details made public, for reasons of commercial or diplomatic sensitivity. The data on resolved barriers is extracted from the Digital Market Access Service (DMAS), the internal government database of trade barriers facing UK businesses that enables closer collaboration across government in Whitehall and at overseas Posts to analyse and progress action to try and resolve them where feasible. DMAS is not a comprehensive repository of all market access issues facing UK exporters, and reporting rates vary widely across countries and regions. As such, aggregate figures should be interpreted as an indicative estimate based on a selective sample.