Jun Du explores UK–EU trade barriers in a British Chambers of Commerce blog
In a new blog for the British Chambers of Commerce, Professor Jun Du, Managing Director of The Productivity Institute, examines how regulatory barriers continue to affect UK–EU trade. Drawing on product-level trade data, Jun argues that technical barriers, including conformity assessments and dual certification, place significant costs on businesses and risk weakening established cross-border supply chains. The blog draws on a paper by Jun with Oleksandr Shepotylo (Aston University) and Yujie Shi (The Productivity Institute).
Key takeaways:
- UK exports to the EU have become concentrated across fewer product lines, with export product varieties falling by 53.8% and export values by 16.5%.
- Trade has proved to be more resilient in closely integrated sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and automotive components, where firms have invested heavily in shared production networks.
- The proposed Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement could reduce barriers affecting agri-food trade, but this agreement would not address technical barriers facing many other sectors.
- A UK–EU agreement on the mutual recognition of conformity assessments could reduce duplicate testing and certification, supporting firms with deeply integrated supply chains.
- Jun also calls for greater investment support for affected firms, more capacity within regulatory bodies and further analysis of long-term changes in UK trade flows.
Read the full blog on the British Chambers of Commerce website
