UK Trade Minister stresses her country’s commitment to values-based free trade

UK Secretary of State (Cabinet Minister) for International Trade Liz Truss has highlighted the “evangelical” commitment of the British government to free trade and re-affirmed the importance of free trade in increasing prosperity in the UK and around the world. In a speech on Thursday at Chatham House (also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs) in London she, however, also cautioned that, in democracies, free trade needed to have the support of, and be regarded as legitimate by, the people. “[T]rade is too often seen as a bogeyman to blame for many problems, whether that be global warming, deindustrialisation, and even childhood obesity,” she warned. “These critics forget that trade does a world of good. Free trade is a lean, green, value-creating machine. It has lifted billions out of poverty across the world, led to a cleaner environment and put food on people’s plates. It helps developing, and developed, nations alike.”