UK Trade: Background and Future under the TCA and the Windsor Framework
This new IIEA paper by Blair Horan examines the background and future of trade in the United Kingdom in the post-Brexit era. The paper explores the background of UK international trade and its origins and explains how the wide reach of the British Empire influenced UK trade development up until the 20th Century. The paper highlights the UK joining the EEC in 1973 as a pivotal moment for UK trade, in bringing them into the EU Customs Union/Common Market, and discusses the domestic political pushback that ultimately culminated in Brexit. The paper concludes by highlighting the trade impacts of Brexit, as well as the UK’s new FTAs and the EU-UK TCA, along with the Windsor Framework and its role in the GB-NI trading ecosystem.
The author, Blair Horan, is member of the IIEA’s UK expert group. He was a member of the Irish Executive Committee of the ATGWU (Unite) trade union in the Belfast office from 1980-1988. He worked for the Civil Public and Services Union trade union (one of the three founding Unions of FÓRSA) from 1988, becoming General Secretary and a member of the ICTU Executive Council from 1997-2011/12. He has represented ICTU on the following bodies: National Forum on Europe 2002-2009; Alternate member EU Economic and Social Committee 2010- 2015; Full member European Social Fund Committee 2011-2021; and Member of EU North-South Interreg Steering, Evaluation, and Monitoring Committees 2015-2023. Blair led the negotiations for the CPSU on the integration of customs staff members into the wider Revenue structure as part of the EU 1992 Single European Market Programme. He has an Honours BA Degree in Economics, and an Honours MA Degree in International Relations.