Kemi Badenoch is promoting tariff-free trade at a global summit in Abu Dhabi in a bid to see “more barriers torn down.”
The business and trade secretary, with trade policy minister Greg Hands, is at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ministerial conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
She is understood to be seeking to progress trade talks with her ministerial counterparts for a deal with Gulf states, as around 150 representatives gather to discuss global regulations.
She will also likely meet with her Canadian opposite after a row over her claim talks with Ottawa were ongoing to avoid a cliff edge for UK car exports, which Canada denied.
Badenoch said: “Free trade creates jobs, opportunities for businesses, and puts money in people’s pockets. We want to see more barriers torn down, not new ones being put up.”
She added that she hoped to “secure meaningful outcomes for companies and consumers back home and around the world as part of the government’s plan to grow the economy”.
The UK will seek to negotiate to maintain the absence of tariffs on digital trade, known as the e-commerce moratorium, meaning consumers avoid taxes on emails, music and downloads.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) also wants to see the WTO’s dispute process restored and protect UK oceans by ending fishing subsidies for unsustainable fleets.
Hands, who is also at the week-long summit, said it was “good to be back… to help drive negotiations.”
He added: “From preventing digital products like emails being taxed, to ensuring countries can challenge unfair trading practices, the UK joins this conference with a clear mission: to be the world’s leading voice for Free Trade.”
Progress on the UK-Gulf free trade agreement (FTA) is also anticipated, with Badenoch meeting all six UK-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) counterparts at once for the first time.
She will also meet representatives ahead of the UK entering the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) later this year.