Trade and Market Access Advisory
Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have pushed trade and market access to the top of board agendas.
Businesses across all sectors, geographies and sizes must navigate an increasingly complex global trading, regulatory and policy environment and determine what these changes mean for them. The turbulent geopolitical backdrop creates uncertainty as well as opportunity.
We work with clients to navigate geopolitical shifts, identify risks, steer government policy, and achieve their commercial objectives. We advise across all aspects of the trade and market access agenda, helping companies to achieve their preferred outcomes at the point where government and business meet. We help clients to traverse a range of challenges including the EU’s push for open strategic autonomy, the UK’s independent trade agenda, digital trade, trade and financial services, border modernisation, trade and sustainability, and ongoing supply chain and regulatory risk.
Our Trade and Market Access Advisory offers a variety of services:
- Strategic counsel and intelligence. Drawing on Flint’s exceptional expertise and connections, we help firms develop and structure their strategic approach to government engagement and shape the UK and EU trade policy agendas.
- Political and regulatory due diligence. We work with firms to map their trade, supply chain and labour market exposure to political, environmental and regulatory change, identify risks to their business models, and develop mitigation strategies.
- Impact of geopolitical risk. We advise investors on the possible second and third-order trade impacts of geopolitical shocks to help them stress test their assumptions and identify new commercial opportunities
- Removing trade barriers. We help clients address firm-specific trade and regulatory barriers through targeted policy interventions, utilising our in-depth understanding of the UK and EU policy-making process.
- Specialist projects. Working with clients, we design and deliver timely high-quality content such as policy papers and strategic communications to ensure their voice cuts through in political and policy discussions.
Our Trade and Market Access team has first-hand experience of working on trade policy both in business and at the highest levels of policymaking in the UK and across Europe. Across Whitehall, we bring direct experience from within key departments that shape post-Brexit trade and market access policy, including the Cabinet Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, as well as the former Department for Exiting the EU. In Europe, we have a wider team and network of Senior Advisers who have worked across various EU institutions, regulatory authorities, and within Member State governments. The breadth and depth of our collective expertise allows us to tailor our support to the specific challenges our clients face.