All U.K. articles – Page 2

  • News briefs

    U.K. scraps Tradeshow Access Programme

    2021-07-19T07:59:00Z

    The U.K.’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has scrapped the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) which had been running for over 30 years. It provided grant funding to small and medium businesses across different industries to cover expenses associated with exhibiting at foreign trade fairs. British fashion and textile companies were ...

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    Article

    U.K. fashion industry struggles to absorb higher costs from Brexit

    2021-07-05T08:07:00Z

    Brexit has led to higher prices and increased bureaucracy for the clothing industry and companies are struggling to absorb the additional costs, a comprehensive industry survey has found. The poll of 138 firms by the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) showed that British firms are experiencing shipping delays, higher ...

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    EU maintains personal data transfer to the U.K.

    2021-06-28T17:04:00Z

    The European Union is maintaining the transfer of personal data to the U.K. despite the fact that the country left the union, thanks to the adoption of two adequacy decisions for the U.K. The European Commission said that the U.K. has fully incorporated the principles, rights and obligations of the ...

  • News briefs

    U.K. retail sales surge driven by clothing and footwear

    2021-05-23T07:26:00Z

    In April, U.K. retail sales rose by 9.2 percent month-on-month in volume thanks to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, including the re-opening of all non-essential retail from April 12 in England and Wales and from April 26 in Scotland. During the period, sales for textile, clothing and footwear stores rose ...

  • News briefs

    U.K. plans to start trade talks with India in the autumn

    2021-05-04T15:59:00Z

    The U.K. and India are scheduled to start talks about a free trade agreement in the autumn, said the British International Trade Secretary Liz Truss. “We will start negotiations on a full free trade agreement this autumn,” she said in an interview with Sky News. Truss hopes to complete the ...

  • Article

    Germany extends lockdown to March 28

    2021-03-05T10:26:00Z

    On March 3, the federal-state conference in Germany decided on how to further extend its present lockdown for non-essential retailer operations until March 28, to help fend off the Covid-19 virus. Like in the U.K., it will be phased out in stages, but retailers are furious, partly also because many ...

  • Article

    Mastercard hikes fees on U.K. e-commerce purchases from EU

    2021-01-27T07:28:00Z

    Mastercard is preparing to increase fees charged to EU merchants when British cardholders buy their goods online by at least 400 percent, a move it said is being made due to Brexit and could lead to higher prices for consumers should merchants decide to pass on the higher costs of ...

  • News briefs

    U.K., Canada to restrict business with Xinjiang

    2021-01-17T17:55:00Z

    The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the U.K. is seeking to separate British organizations from the extra-judicial detentions and forced labor that Uyghur Muslims and other minorities are undergoing at the hands of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in the province of Xinjiang. Citing “proof from the Chinese authorities’ ...

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    Article

    U.K. signs free trade agreements with Turkey, EU

    2020-12-30T16:47:00Z

    The U.K. and Turkey have signed tariff-free trading arrangements and are committed to reach a ”more ambitious” agreement in the future, according to the British Department for International Trade . The free trade agreement was signed by the U.K.’s International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss and Turkey’s Minister for Trade, Ruhsar ...

  • Brexit 2
    Article

    EU, UK extend Brexit trade talks in effort to avoid a “no deal”

    2020-12-14T14:31:00Z

    The United Kingdom and the European Union had decided to wait until Sunday, Dec. 13 to find a compromise on a trade agreement that would go into effect on Jan. 1. But, the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the negotiators will now continue to work into this ...

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    Article

    The U.K. reaches trade accord with Vietnam, but deal with EU unlikely

    2020-12-11T17:44:00Z

    The U.K. has finalized a free trade agreement with Vietnam, which is scheduled to become effective from Jan. 1. It is the third trade agreement reached with an Asian country, after those with Singapore and Japan. The U.K. has also reached a preliminary trade agreement with Canada. The U.K. is ...

  • News briefs

    Strong online sales on Black Friday in the U.K.

    2020-12-06T14:14:00Z

    According to a survey by IMRG, the British online retail industry association, U.K. online retail sales on Black Friday this year grew by 38 percent, with the entire week around Black Friday (Nov. 23-30) showing a 30 percent increase. The survey was based on the daily online sales results of ...

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    News briefs

    Britons started Christmas shopping in October

    2020-11-22T11:06:00Z

    Britons started their Christmas shopping early this year, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In October, retail sales volumes increased by 1.2 percent in the U.K. when compared with September, marking the sixth consecutive month of growth. The increased reached 6.4 percent for non-store retailing, ...

  • Article

    Primark faces £375 mn loss of sales due to Covid restrictions

    2020-11-03T10:44:00Z

    The Irish fast fashion retailer Primark, which is owned by Associated British Foods (ABF), could lose £375 million pounds (€415.9m-$484.0m) in sales due to the closure of stores following restrictions imposed by local authorities throughout Europe to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The estimate includes a planned lockdown in England. As ...

  • Brexit 2
    Article

    U.K. threatens no-deal Brexit but talks to continue

    2020-10-18T06:53:00Z

    Tensions on stalled Brexit trade talks intensified as Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, said Britons should prepare for a no-deal departure if the European Union (EU) did not compromise, raising the prospect of supply chain chaos across Europe. Johnson stopped short of saying he was walking away from the ...

  • News briefs

    EU sees trade deal with U.K. as unlikely

    2020-07-23T19:52:00Z

    Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief negotiator for Brexit, said he views the possibility of reaching an agreement by the end of the year with the U.K. on the parties’ future trade relations as unlikely, following a new round of inconclusive talks in London. Barnier said there had been little ...

  • Article

    Only a quarter of U.K. companies are ready for Brexit

    2020-07-14T09:08:00Z

    Only 24 percent of U.K. business leaders believe that their businesses are fully ready for the end of the Brexit transition period, which concludes on Dec. 31, according to a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD). According to the survey, 19 percent of respondents said that they are ...

  • News briefs

    Online represented one-third of retail sales in the UK in May

    2020-06-19T10:22:00Z

    In May, the proportion of overall retail sales in the U.K. bought online soared to the highest level on record at 33.4%, which compares with the 30.8% reported in April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In a survey carried out between May 18-31, the ONS says that ...

  • Article

    UK to erase import tariffs for leather from 2021

    2020-05-24T14:42:00Z

    The British government has removed import duties for leather in its new tariff regime known as the U.K. Global Tariff (UKGT), and which will replace the European Union’s Common External Tariff (CET) from Jan. 1, 2021. But tariffs for leather footwear remain largely unchanged.