Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:07 pm on 19 June 2019.
Again, I appreciate the question that you put to me on article 24 from the GATT, which is obviously only applicable if you are in discussions on a trade agreement because it doesn't apply if you are not having those discussions. You also identified the fact that, if you are going to reduce tariffs to allow the cheaper import of trade—which, as you quite rightly point out, the UK may do—it has to be applied across all WTO members, which does mean, therefore, that you will probably have imports at a lower level and cost UK jobs. There will be imports from countries that we would have had agreements with and would have had higher tariffs, now coming in at lower tariffs and putting UK jobs at risk. Do you accept that that is a possibility as a consequence of tariffs unilaterally being reduced?