Trade Updates from the British Chambers of Commerce
This month's updates from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)
► World Trade Organisation Public Forum: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, attended the forum, along with 4,000 representatives of business, government, and NGOs. He heard from World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who set out the potential uplift in exports from global investment in AI – 34-37% by 2040 on key scenarios.
► Meeting With UK Ambassador To The WTO: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, and other business organisation representatives had a roundtable with the new Ambassador Kumar Iyer to the WTO, it considered how to make the UK’s work on trade in Geneva more visible and relevant to businesses at home and to work on agreements to remove trade barriers.
► British-Slovenian Chamber Of Commerce UK-EU Trade Conference: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, delivered a keynote speech on BCC priorities for the UK-EU trade at the Conference hosted in Ljubljana on Friday 12 September attended by a wide range of UK based and EU businesses, the European Commission, Slovenian Government and the UK Embassy in Slovenia. Read the report from the event here.
► Meeting with German Embassy: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, discussed the emerging co-operation agenda between business and both governments in the UK and Germany on industrial strategy, defence, trade, and energy under the Kensington Treaty. He met with the German Embassy economic and trade team to discuss how UK business could benefit.
► Meeting with Welsh Government Brussels Office: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, discussed perspectives from the Welsh Government with officials from its Brussels office, on the forthcoming UK-EU negotiations on trade.
► BCC At Conservative Party Conference: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, presented the BCC’s Competitiveness Report recommendations at the Onward 'Global Britain' fringe event in Manchester, alongside the Shadow Chancellor the Rt Hon Mel Stride MP, and other speakers.
► Meetings With Parliamentarians And Ambassadors: The BCC team met Shadow Treasury Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Select Committee member John Cooper MP, EU Ambassador Pedro Serrano, and German Ambassador Susanne Baumann to discuss customs reform, exporter support, and tariffs.
► Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) Forum: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, represented the BCC at the TRA Stakeholder Forum in Birmingham on supply chains and economic security, with Shevaun Haviland CBE, BCC Director General, set to meet the TRA’s new co-CEOs later this month.
► UK-EU Trade And Economic Relationship: BCC Head of Trade Policy William Bain took part in a meeting of the Domestic Advisory Group, receiving a briefing from the Cabinet Office on the current state of discussions between the UK and EU on food checks, Emission Trading Scheme linkage, youth experience schemes, defence and discussing BCC priorities for the negotiations.
► Budget 2025 Submission: The BCC submission makes clear calls for government to support trade accelerators to key fast-growing markets and also reform of UK customs rules and processes, so we keep pace with international developments and shifts in technology.
► Trade Negotiations Briefing: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, engaged with the Department for Business and trade (DBT) about progress on live trade negotiations the UK is pursuing including the Gulf Co-operation Council.
► Meeting with German Embassy: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, discussed the emerging co-operation agenda between business and both governments in the UK and Germany on industrial strategy, defence, trade, and energy under the Kensington Treaty. He met with the German Embassy economic and trade team to discuss how UK business could benefit.
► Meeting with Welsh Government Brussels Office: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, discussed perspectives from the Welsh Government with officials from its Brussels office, on the forthcoming UK-EU negotiations on trade.
► BCC At Conservative Party Conference: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, presented the BCC’s Competitiveness Report recommendations at the Onward 'Global Britain' fringe event in Manchester, alongside the Shadow Chancellor the Rt Hon Mel Stride MP, and other speakers.
► Meetings With Parliamentarians And Ambassadors: The BCC team met Shadow Treasury Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Select Committee member John Cooper MP, EU Ambassador Pedro Serrano, and German Ambassador Susanne Baumann to discuss customs reform, exporter support, and tariffs.
► Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) Forum: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, represented the BCC at the TRA Stakeholder Forum in Birmingham on supply chains and economic security, with Shevaun Haviland CBE, BCC Director General, set to meet the TRA’s new co-CEOs later this month.
► UK-EU Trade And Economic Relationship: BCC Head of Trade Policy William Bain took part in a meeting of the Domestic Advisory Group, receiving a briefing from the Cabinet Office on the current state of discussions between the UK and EU on food checks, Emission Trading Scheme linkage, youth experience schemes, defence and discussing BCC priorities for the negotiations.
► UK Trade Data: The latest ONS trade data has been released for August 2025 and further illustrated the two speed pattern of UK exports with steady growth in services, but continued turbulence in goods trade. Read the BCC's comments and calls for action.
► Budget 2025 Submission: The BCC submission makes clear calls for government to support trade accelerators to key fast-growing markets and also reform of UK customs rules and processes, so we keep pace with international developments and shifts in technology.
► Trade Negotiations Briefing: William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, engaged with the Department for Business and trade (DBT) about progress on live trade negotiations the UK is pursuing including the Gulf Co-operation Council.