28 August 2025
The government’s trade deal with the US has led to the closure of Britain’s largest bioethanol plant on Humberside. Trade unions and companies in the industry have criticised the closure.
Our ruling class has a track record of not protecting Britain’s national interest. One typical episode occurred at the end of the Second World War…
For Britain to leave the EU and then seek to join other trade blocs is the opposite of asserting independence and sovereignty.
The RMT union has reacted angrily to the joint announcement from Westminster and the SNP government of two “green freeports”. It says the projects are fatally flawed.
Freeports are a reality. Most workers have never heard of them, but they soon will – and workers’ organisation within them will really matter…
British farmers are concerned at the implications of a trade deal “in principle” with Australia agreed on 15 June and being rushed through by the government.
22 May 2021
Free trade negotiations with Australia being rushed through by the government could have devastating implications for farmers across the UK.
The imperialists are blackmailing the nations of the world – if you want to trade, it’s free trade or nothing…
The government has started consulting over what its new “Global Tariff Policy” should be.
9 February 2020
The government is consulting on a new trade policy post-Brexit. And if the consultation is anything to go by, the direction of travel is worrying.
What’s so good about free trade agreements? They make the rich richer, workers poorer, and they rob countries of the ability to plan…
It’s a funny old world when you can look at a 100 per cent British wool men’s suit in Marks and Spencer and discover that it has been manufactured in Cambodia.
23 September 2019
Austrian trade unions are claiming victory after the Austrian parliament rejected the planned free trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur group of countries.
7 August 2019
Beef farmers in Ireland have held a series of protests calling on their government and the EU for support.
16 June 2019
20 December 2018
This well-argued book from Professor Dani Rodrik examines the effects of globalisation and criticises the economic justfication for it.
Siren voices are telling us that we should be negotiating Free Trade Agreements with the US, with the EU, with just about anybody…
Multinational corporations, the largest of which dwarf many countries’ economies, want all trade to be regulated in their own interests.
The European Union has been working hard at pressurising developing countries into free trade agreements.
4 August 2017
The government wants to reduce the cost of exporting whisky after Brexit, with ministers keen to open up new markets around the world for the drink.
The Scottish and Welsh regional administrations are urging the government to stay in the single market – predictably, since it effectively means staying in the EU and under the authority of its Court of Justice. But they are also calling for Britain to stay in the Customs Union.
When the EU invented the concept of the “single market”, it was playing fast and loose with language. It’s not so much a market, more a mechanism for enforcing EU control over national economies and national life…
With the prospect of Britain leaving the EU, we’re starting to hear a lot about “free trade”. Workers should be wary.
