The Week in Trade: G7 summit, CDS updates and surprise price drops

A G7 summit, another twist in the China-EU subsidy probe battle and cheaper second-hand electric vehicles (EVs), and rice lead news from the world of international trade this week.

The big picture: A big week for the UK trade as new business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds headed to a G7 summit in Italy to announce that “Britain is back” on the world stage and wants a more “mature” relationship with the EU.

A power shift in Europe – quite literally – as the Baltic nations formally withdraw from Russia’s grid system, the Independent reports. Although they haven’t bought Russian electricity for some time as part of Europe’s drive to reduce Russian energy dependency following its invasion of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will switch to continental Europe’s grid in February 2025.

Good week/bad week: Good news for your wallet as the cost of a key staple in your food shop and cheeky takeaway could be about to fall. The New Indian Express reports that the government is likely to relax export curbs on rice, following a sharp increase in warehouse inventories.

Measures such as an increase in export taxes have been introduced by the Indian government over the past two years to reduce prices in its domestic market.

Not great news for Europe’s leading pork exporters – Spain, Denmark and the Netherland, who China has named as the target of its pork probe this week. China, the world’s biggest pork importer, opened the investigation following the introduction of new EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) last month.

Reuters notes that these nations are among the biggest proponents of the new EV tariffs, in contrast to Germany’s whose booming auto industry is concerned with retaliatory measures that would harm its firms’ exports.

How’s stat? 63%. That’s how much demand for second-hand EVs has increased in the UK in the first half of the year. While sales of shiny new models stoke trade disputes globally and auto industry warn of a slumping demand, the FT reports that we’re happy to take on cheaper, used EVs. Electric models are close to price parity with their petrol counterparts, with cost being the biggest barrier to adoption.

Ian Plummer, commercial director at Auto Trader, told the publication:

“Once prices are the same, the consumer perception is that the vehicle choice is a very rational one and no longer dependent on the feeling of doing the right thing”.

The week in customs: HMRC continue to update traders on changes to the New Computerised Transit System, phase 5 (NCTS5), which was rolled out at the beginning of this month, and the Customs Declaration Service, which became mandatory for all exporters from the start of June.

Most recently, HMRC announced that a new series of requirements would come into effect against a specific set of document codes. These requirements include the need to complete Document ID and document reason fields, otherwise declarations will be rejected.

Details on this and other systems changes can be found in our most recent edition of Customs Corner.

Quote of the week: “We are seeking a closer, more mature, more level-headed relationship with our friends in the EU– our nearest and largest trading partner, and we also intend to forge better trading relationships with countries around the world.”

Business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds, ahead of his trip to a G7 summit in Italy.

What else we covered this week:  A nervy week for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen ended with her re-election to the post to serve another five-year term. We covered the vote with insight from the Chartered Institute’s director of EU public affairs, Fergus McReynolds.

We collated the latest sanctions news, reporting on breaches of Russian measures, as well as the country’s most recent attempts to evade them.

In addition, there was a member-exclusive look at how Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status works and can benefit your firm.

True facts: Getting cultural, this year marks 150 years since the first exhibition of impressionist artwork. The works of Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot and Paul Cézanne were shown together in Paris in 1874.

However, it was in the UK, some years before that the market for the style was established, with dealer Paul Durand-Ruel selling the works of Monet and Pissarro from a rented Bond Street Gallery after he fled the Franco-Prussian war.