5. Statement by the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language: Update on Trade Policy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:19 pm on 7 January 2020.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 6:19, 7 January 2020

Just very briefly, I'm aware that we're running out of time. So, yes, uncertainty is a big issue. In terms of food safety and security, there is the question of with whom are we going to align. Because if we do align with the United States, and we allow hormone-treated beef in, then the barriers with the rest of the continent will go up because they won't want that to enter their market. So, there are trade-offs, and the order and the sequencing of this is going to matter massively. That's part of the difficulty of having multiple negotiations going on at the same time. We've made it clear: EU comes first.

In terms of what we know from the UK Government, part of the problem is that we don't know what the negotiating mandate is. The Americans have published theirs. It's all transparent. We don't know what the UK mandate is. That's something we've really got to start getting on with, because we're running out of time, as I was saying.