Long FT read on new barriers to services trade with the EU. Poorly handled anyway in existing trade deals, compounded by a lack of general understanding of services, and a failure of the UK government to fully grasp the issue. https://www.ft.com/content/d0c10195-0e2e-4913-af74-3b7057163e3f

How poorly understood is services trade? So poorly that while the UK claims to run a surplus with the US and EU, they claim the opposite. There is something like a £90 billion discrepancy in those figures alone.

We used to describe the EU single market for services as incomplete, but it is far more integrated than in the US. A huge part was the freedom to travel to work, inwards and outwards, now almost completely lost. That particularly affects smaller businesses / freelancers.

Traditional free trade agreements do very little for services, even those described as 'world leading'. The theoretical right to provide services is in practice heavily restricted by regulation. So far there is little sign of UK government recognition or possible solutions.

Final word on what the services sector is... anything from engineering projects to insurance, broadcasting to consultancy, ICT to fashion. The UK is generally very good at this stuff. But they don't suit prevailing political attitudes in developing countries to make more.

This is highly plausible. https://twitter.com/GeorgePeretzQC/status/1391650471094411267