Some more on our issues with Liam Fox and his trade agreements.
Most Favoured Nation (MFN)
He has to deal with the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) agreement that all WTO signatories have. The problem here is that we are also part of the EU which has exemptions from this to allow for regional economic integration. But what does that mean? Well, the EU have gone further than MFN inside it's own borders so as we leave we can't stick to that level without opening it up to every other MFN in the WTO outside of the EU. But I believe that doesn't mean specific trade agreements the EU have arranged with third countries are treated the same so when it comes to grandfathering in old trade deals are treated the same since they would not be reflective of regional economic integration.
The EU trade deals do include a MFN status. Therefore if we negotiate a FTA with one of these countries we decide what rates to set and we don't have to give that to all other MFN's in the WTO since the FTA allows for exemption from that rule. Interestingly I've seen it argued that we could trigger the opposite of this but that's not what the WTO state in their rules. IT's true that is the case but there are strict rules that can be followed that prevent it therefore if we can stick to those we can avoid rolling it out to everyone...and isn't this just a basic point of setting up a FTA anyway?
That's what we have all these trade lawyers for, or used to, so some eejit doesn't forget to put the relevant bits together and unexpectedly opens up the FTA to the whole WTO?
Rules Of Origin
We will have to consider these grandfathered deals to see if we can still meet this clause because we do so much importing of parts across the EU. It's possibly some industries, such as the car industry, may need these adjusting to meet current deals or those grandfathered deals will need amending.
The good news is that these are much more loosely dealt with as their is still not true global agreement of it. It's left to those involved in it with some reporting to the WTO in some cases.
Also, relaxing these rules can alter import/export rates so there may be hidden benefits other countries would appreciate.