The United Kingdom’s Department for Business and Trade recently issued the country’s first critical imports and supply chain strategy, which aims to help build “a resilient, open and innovative economy able to provide economic security and prosperity long into the future.”
The strategy emphasizes the importance of imported goods and reflects the UK’s “belief in the benefits of free trade.” However, it also cautions about a growing number of dangers to the resilience of global supply chains, including geopolitical fragmentation, increasing use of protectionist measures such as excessive tariffs and export bans, economic coercion, disruptions to shipping routes from wars and extreme weather, and the emergence of new technologies reshaping how goods are exported, imported, and transported.
The strategy thus establishes five priority areas for the UK’s current and future work on ensuring the resilience of supply chains for critical imports.
- making the UK government a center of excellence for supply chain analysis and risk assessment (e.g., understanding goods and infrastructure needed now and in the future)
- removing barriers to critical imports
- refining and expanding the capability to forecast and respond to global supply chain shocks
- ensuring that the UK has the insights, policies, and international partnerships needed to address long-term trends impacting supply chain resilience
- expanding collaboration between government, business, and academia
The strategy will impact goods essential for the operation of the designated critical national infrastructure sectors (chemicals, civil nuclear, communications, defense, emergency services, energy, finance, food, government, health, space, transport, and water) as well as those essential for the success of the UK’s five current growth sectors (creative industries, digital technology, green industries, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing).
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