Liam Fox wants foreign trade policy to be separated out of the foreign office and given to his newly formed International Trade Department (HERE), a suggestion that Johnson has presumably leaked to The Telegraph where he was formerly employed. This sort of empire building does not go down well with Theresa May apparently and is not likely to be implemented.
In the letter written by Fox he makes the same mistake that other ministers and economists make.
He rightly highlights the fact that Britain's current account deficit, the gap between the amount of goods, services and payments the UK sends to the rest of the world and the amount coming in, has reached record levels saying, that now, more than ever, is the time we need to look to the Balance of Payments to bolster our economic performance. UK exports have remained flat since 2011 and the Current Account deficit fell to 5.4 per cent of GDP in 2015 - its poorest position since national statistics have been collected.
"I strongly believe this will be the only chance we get to materially change the approach we take to trade and investment and, as such, would urge you to consider this proposition favourably. If we fail to take this opportunity to restructure now I feel we will have a suboptimal structure for the future."
However, our exports are not flat because of government policy or even the strength of the pound. They are flat because we do not make enough of what other countries want. If you need trucks you might go to Sweden (Scania, Volvo) or if you want heavy engineering for a cement plant you would go to Germany (Moellers, Haver & Boecker) and so on. Our exports are low for the same reason our imports are high. We don't make the products here that customers are desperate to buy when they want the best you can get. That is our problem as Liam Fox will soon discover.
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