Media Coverage

Britain and the EU are trying to surmount the impasse in Brexit talks with a hybrid plan that aims to avoid both a hard border on the island of Ireland and a customs border that divides the UK. “Modern association [EU] agreements have very strong level playing field provisions, even for trade arrangements that are relatively conventional in FTA terms,” said Stephen Adams, a former EU trade official now at Global Counsel.

Ajay Banga, Mastercard president and chief executive officer, Ailish Campbell, Canadian chief trade commissioner and assistant deputy minister for International Business Development, Peter Mandelson, former European Trade Commissioner and Global Counsel co-founder and chairman, and Frederick W. Smith, FedEx chairman and chief executive officer, discuss the outlook for global trade with Bloomberg Economics' Stephanie Flanders at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore on Nov. 6, 2018.

Ying Staton, Head of Asia at Global Counsel: "Warner Bros breathed a sigh of relief recently when it was confirmed that regulators would not block the launch of Crazy Rich Asians in China. Why would a film like this have caused concern in the first place? I can think of one reason."

Liam Fox has suffered a setback in his bid to secure fast track normalisation of the UK’s World Trade Organization commitments before Brexit, conceding that Britain faces the prospect of lengthy negotiations.Stephen Adams, senior director at Global Counsel, a consultancy, said: “It’s a headache but you don’t need your own WTO schedules locked down on Brexit day one. Given the chance for other WTO members to press the UK for new concessions, this was never likely to be done quickly.”  

When the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the British government had no chief trade negotiator and only a handful of people engaged in trade policy. As part of the EU, Britain hadn’t been able to forge its own trade deals since the 1970s.Stephen Adams, Senior Director at Global Counsel, said: "Until countries know whether the U.K. is remaining in the EU’s customs union or not after the transition, they probably won’t want to strike trade deals".

While India is often referred to as world's fastest-growing large economy, its currency has fallen by more than 12 percent this year against the US dollar. Gregor Irwin, chief economist at Global Counsel, says there are a number of factors contributing to it.

Some advice for business Global Counsel, an advisory firm, passed on a report published in Singapore by Peter Mandelson, former EU trade commissioner, and Carlos Gutierrez, former US Commerce secretary. In the face of so much uncertainty on trade, they flagged up a few tips for businesses trying to navigate the new environment. 

President Donald Trump signed legislation on Thursday that would reduce tariffs on nearly 1,700 imported products used by U.S. manufacturers — an uncharacteristic move for the leader who has shown an affinity for imposing tariffs on foreign goods. (...) Trump’s trade actions will likely divert certain trade and investment opportunities away from the U.S. and to other countries, leaving American companies at a disadvantage, according to a new report by former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and former EU trade chief Peter Mandelson. Gutierrez is chairman of Albright Stonebridge Group and Mandelson is chairman of Global Counsel.

On Wednesday, Gutierrez and Peter Mandelson, former European Union Commissioner for Trade between 2004 and 2008, published a paper titled "Navigating the global trading system crisis: What businesses need to know."

Peter Mandelson said that he does not believe China is going to reinvent its whole economic and industrial model. In addition, he thinks there will be more international capital flowing into the Chinese economy, and that there will be a greater role for the private sector alongside China's state-owned enterprises in the coming years.

Liam Fox’s plan to take Britain into a trans-Pacific trade bloc after Brexit is not compatible with the strategy laid out by Theresa May at Chequers last month, trade experts said.

Stephen Adams, a trade expert at Global Counsel, a consultancy, said: “The UK and all these countries will need to be confident that they don’t lose by trading bilateral arrangements for the CPTPP framework and can preserve important features of these agreements inside CPTPP.”