World Trade Organisation Rules

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 2:21 pm on 14 November 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:21, 14 November 2018

Well, Llywydd, I know that my colleague Ken Skates has certainly been in discussions with the UK Government on the issue of tariff rate quotas, and David Rees is absolutely right: we were told by those members of the UK Government who advocated leaving the European Union that certification of UK schedules at the WTO would be a simple matter of asking for it—you'd put it in the post and it would be back the next day. It couldn't be simpler, we were told. Clearly, that is absolutely not the case. More than 20 countries raised objections to the UK treatment of tariff rate quotas at the first opportunity that they had available to them, and the UK has now had to decide to open negotiations on tariff rate quotas with other WTO members. Those things will not now be concluded before we leave the European Union. And, from a Welsh perspective, of course we are concerned about the negative impact of any modifications to TRQs on sensitive sectors in Wales—in the production of farm-based products in particular—and we continue to press the UK Government to make sure that we are consulted in advance on these matters, given the complexity that we now know is involved in reconciling them.