The Student Room Group

Brexit: China wants UK trade deal ASAP, frustrated with EU's failure to conclude one

You won't have read this in the Guardian or heard it on the BBC (at least a quick search didn't show any hits) since it doesn't fit the doom and gloom talking Britain down narrative, but it looks like the UK will have a trade deal with China BEFORE the EU does.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/07/06/chinese-and-british-officials-flirt-with-possibility-of-an-early/

Could all those "experts" have been possibly wrong?

What an indictment on the failure of the EU. They have been trying to conclude an agreement for years but such is the dysfunction of Brussels that it is as far away as ever and the Chinese are letting their frustration show by doing one with us first. :smile:

First step in our becoming a tiger economy...
(edited 7 years ago)

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Let's get with China they will be heavily involved in europe anyway and the rest of the world with OBOR
Reply 2
Yeah lets import loads of inferior and hazardous Chinese goods! YAY. I kidd I kidd :wink:
Reply 3
Original post by Themini
Yeah lets import loads of inferior and hazardous Chinese goods! YAY. I kidd I kidd :wink:


Hard to find anything (manufactured) nowadays that wasn't made in China...
Reply 4
Original post by generallee
Hard to find anything (manufactured) nowadays that wasn't made in China...


True but just a worry whether we're going to be as strict with import of goods with hazardous materials as the EU is. That's all. The EU rejects a lot of Chinese goods based on safety and quality.
Reply 5
As if they don't sell us stuff already nearly everything is made in China now
the EU does not torture monks.
Of course China wants to do a trade deal with the UK.

Chinese wages are much lower than UK wages so getting rid of tariffs will enable them to flood UK markets and knock UK firms out of business so they wrap up the UK market.

Their government also likes to subsidise their firms so they have an advantage in overseas markets and they don't enforce intellectual property rights. The EU was dragging its feet on a trade deal by wanting China to improve this but if they can push a faster deal through with the UK it will suit them.

The big challenge for the UK is accepting what these kind of trade deals mean. Whilst they will increase the amount of cheap consumer goods and cheaper services, they do have an implication for British way of life. Free trade over time equalises wages - it helps the lower wage country by giving them more sales and driving their wages up, at the same time it drives down wages in the higher wage country.

So we have to accept that by being more open to China we start becoming more like China ourselves.
Reply 8
[video="youtube;R_haCBTdKp8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_haCBTdKp8[/video]
Reply 9
Original post by Mathemagicien
Look at high tech/high quality goods, they often come from Germany and the US


Maybe so, but for how much longer?

My ipad and iphone both say "assembled in China" on the back...
The UK should take every opportunity that the EU held it back from. If it does so, it could really succeed. If it doesn't, it'll crash and burn. This is very important stuff.
Original post by KingBradly
The UK should take every opportunity that the EU held it back from. If it does so, it could really succeed. If it doesn't, it'll crash and burn. This is very important stuff.


That is absolutely right.

And why the bitter Remainers are so dangerous and divisive. It is almost as though they WANT the country to fail so they can be proved right.

We are where we are. We need to pull together as a nation, unite and make Brexit work.

If we don't it won't be Brexit that screwed Britain but the failure of Remainers to accept their defeat and work in the interests of the country.

As you say, very important stuff and my patience with the Remain whiners and their media friends is starting to wear very thin indeed...
Reply 12
A free trade deal with China would be a mistake. I think that such deals should only be made with countries on a similar level of development.
Original post by Mathemagicien
Look at high tech/high quality goods, they often come from Germany and the US


You forget the largest producers of high tech products, South Korea, Japan oh and you guessed it China.
I really hope this happens.

China is an awesome manufacturer but has absolutely atrocious services.

It's chaos. I am often trying to buy from them and they fail on many fronts, from simple translations on product descriptions (sometimes hilarious), poor marketing, poor quality control and massive problems with LTS.
Oh Whoopie, we'll be forced to do what the Chinese want us to do instead of having a stake in a common European deal.
Original post by generallee
Hard to find anything (manufactured) nowadays that wasn't made in China...


I can tell you've never visited Switzerland
Reply 17
Ironic that a fair number of people voted out because of the home markets being crushed by things like chinese steel.
Reply 18
A deal with China will probably mean the end of steel making in Port Talbot since the Chinese would want to export cheap steel to Britain, they have massive over capacity.

China also has a history of protectionism and imposing high tariffs on imports, China has been taken to the WTO court by both the EU and US for imposing high tariffs on cars made in the EU and US.

Given the UK's weaker position outside the EU, I expect China to be even more astute in stretching the rules of any trade deals we will have with them.
Chinese are communists

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