8th Report - Export led growth: Trade with the Asia-Pacific region

Asia-Pacific offers vast commercial potential for UK exports of both goods and services, but realising these opportunities for greater trade will depend on overcoming barriers through targeted regulatory diplomacy and sustained engagement through dialogues and trade frameworks. In particular, the Government must include robust and enforceable IP chapters in all new and updated FTAs. It should also ensure that adequate resources are allocated to support enforcement, investigation, and trade promotion of IP protections. (Conclusion, Paragraph 24)

The Government should use its full network of trade dialogues in Asia to push for real, commercially meaningful outcomes to drive down tariffs, remove regulatory uncertainty and improve intellectual property protection. In particular, the Department should explore wider use of ‘between the meeting’ task and finish groups that include the private sector to identify problems that hamper exports and develop solutions more rapidly. (Recommendation, Paragraph 25) Opportunities for trade with Asia-Pacific

The Government must continue its commitment to the Global Combat Air Programme as a conduit to build further on good relations with Japan, a key partner in the region. By recognising the power of such partnerships, and exploring where these can be grown, the UK is building a bedrock upon which greater trading ties can be created in the defence and other sectors. To sustain industry confidence, the Government must also provide longer-term funding commitments, moving beyond the current 12-month cycle, to give companies the certainty needed to scale their involvement. (Recommendation, Paragraph 34)

The UK should explore with Japan the potential to widen the partnership to include digital and cyber technologies, to explore potential ties to the AUKUS programme, and to develop joint exports to allies across the region. 34 Furthermore, the Government should quickly deepen the economic security dialogues with Asia Pacific allies to enhance our mutual resilience and diversity of our supply chains. (Recommendation, Paragraph 35)

Education and higher education are critical export sectors in Asia-Pacific and strategic enablers of the best possible export environment in the region. The Government’s trade strategy should confirm that education is a priority sector and the Industrial Strategy Council should ensure there is a cross-Whitehall dialogue that helps maximise the potential of UK education exports. On the ground in export markets, UK embassies should ensure that universities feature in a five-year business plan for advancing local ‘soft-power strategies’ which choreograph taxpayer-funded soft power institutions including UK universities, UK research councils, the British Council and the BBC World Service and connect to better organised drive behind export of UK creative industries, organised through the Industrial Strategy Council. (Recommendation, Paragraph 41)

Asia is fast becoming a key market for digital trade, shaped by divergent data governance models and rapid technological transformation. While regulatory fragmentation poses challenges, it also creates a window for the UK to support greater alignment through trusted, collaborative partnerships. There is a clear opportunity to promote convergence—via CPTPP, bilateral frameworks, or targeted initiatives—in ways that expand access, build resilience, and benefit UK firms operating globally (Conclusion, Paragraph 47)

As part of the new trade strategy, the Government should shift greater attention and resourcing toward joining open-ended digital agreements, such as DEPA, that better reflect the Indo-Pacific’s role as the engine of global digital growth, and offer faster, more flexible market access than traditional FTAs. (Recommendation, Paragraph 48)

The Government should step up collaborative engagement to encourage greater alignment and interoperability in digital rules, while maintaining strong multilateral commitments. In particular, the Government must continue to support the WTO e-commerce moratorium and the Joint Statement Initiative on e-commerce. (Recommendation, Paragraph 49)

As part of its new trade strategy, the Government should clearly set out how it will promote the liberalisation and export of environmental goods and services, particularly in and to the fast-moving Asia-Pacific region. The strategy must be aligned with the UK’s industrial strategy, underpinned by clear commitments to assess and respond to strategic dependencies and anti-competitive distortions in sectors of national security, while maintaining the UK’s support for a rules-based trading system. (Recommendation, Paragraph 56) 35

The UK’s reputation as a reliable and constructive partner makes it well-placed to navigate Asia’s evolving trade landscape. However, the Committee heard that seizing these opportunities will require a more embedded and consistent approach, underpinned by policy certainty and sustained political engagement at the highest levels. (Conclusion, Paragraph 63)

The Committee, therefore, calls on the Government to provide long-term policy certainty to businesses navigating rising geo-political and regulatory complexity across the region to enable them to take up the opportunities that greater trade with Asia. It must also continue to engage, through all available channels, with Asian partners and set a clear strategic policy direction in its upcoming trade strategy. (Recommendation, Paragraph 64)

The Government should look to incorporate regular ministerial and official attendance at key events in Asian economic centres, such as GIFT City in India, where UK exports have the most potential to grow. Diplomatic trade policy should move beyond a centralised, export-driven model and aim to embed the UK in Asia’s regional growth corridors. (Recommendation, Paragraph 65)

We agree with Douglas Alexander that the Government’s trade-focused resource must be matched to the potential of the export opportunities around the world. The Government must, therefore, invest properly in trade resources that are tailored to the needs of each significant Asian market. In order to match resources to the potential of the export opportunities the Government must undertake an analysis of DBT’s overseas based staff and compare this with the projected market growth in each market. The Department must then ensure resources are suitably realigned to meet strategic priorities and fully exploit the potential of growing markets. (Recommendation, Paragraph 66) 36