7. Will the Minister provide an update on how the Welsh Government is promoting international trade? OAQ55036

Growing our economy through international trade is one of the core ambitions in the international strategy. The challenges and opportunities that are faced by exporters during this period of transition from the EU and beyond mean that Welsh Government support is more important than ever.

I thank the Minister for that reply. Taking my cue from Dai Lloyd's question earlier on, will the Minister acknowledge the vital importance of doing an early trade deal with the United States, where we have a pro-Brexit Government that is keen to help us as a country, in stark contrast to Monsieur Barnier, who maintains a policy of intransigence and seems to want us, for the indefinite future, to accept rules and regulations made by EU institutions in which we will not be participating, which no self-respecting nation in the world could possibly accept?

The United States is a vast and growing economy—national income's gone up by 50 per cent since 2010, whereas, in the EU, it's flatlined. So, we should therefore see the massive advantages of doing an early deal with the US, not least because that's the best way of putting pressure on the EU to do a sensible and rational trade deal with us.

Well, I think we've got to be extremely careful in this area. We've got to remember that 60 per cent of our trade in goods is with the EU, and that's why, as the Welsh Government, we have been absolutely clear that our priority would be to see a trade deal with the EU as a priority. Those rules and regulations we have already—if we go away from them, the barriers go up in terms of access to those markets, and we have to be very, very careful.

And I think, when you talk about 'no self-respecting nation' would sign up to rules from someone else, that's—. All you're really suggesting is that we sign up to American rules instead of EU rules, and that's certainly not something that you sold when you were trying to tell people in Wales that it would be a good idea to leave the EU.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that it could take 50 years for us to benefit from leaving the EU. That's the reality of where we're heading now, and I think it's a real shame. Of course, if we can get a decent deal with the United States, that would help us internationally to grow our exports, to see further inward investment. Of course we'd want to see that, but we don't want to see it at the expense of our relationship with the EU.

Minister, our biggest trading partners are Germany and France, in that order, and, to be fair to Neil Hamilton, the USA is third. We had a robust export performance last year, which I congratulate the Welsh Government on in the work it did there; we saw our exports increase by very nearly 5 per cent. But they fell to Germany, and I think we need to be very careful about the messages we are sending. We need to preserve these European markets into which we often export some of our leading goods, with all that implies for well-paid jobs, research and development and the like.

I think you're absolutely right, and I was very concerned when I saw the drop in those figures, although, on the whole, we're doing quite well in terms of exports. But I was very concerned to see that drop from Germany, and that's one of the reasons why we are very much courting Germany as our key international partner. That's why we've invited the ambassador down here, and he will be visiting not just south Wales but also going to Airbus as well. So, we are terribly aware that those markets are critical to maintaining that 60 per cent of trade with the EU. But, as you say, we've got to be very, very sensitive in this very difficult period where a lot of people have lost confidence and we need to regain that now.