On the occasion of the first visit of King Charles III to France, Françoise Rausch, president of the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was the eco guest of franceinfo, to discuss commercial relations between the two countries.
King Charles III of England is in France for a three-day state visit, a symbol of good relations between France and the United Kingdom. Relations that have warmed up from a business point of view. As proof, trade between the two countries continues to progress. Françoise Rausch, president of the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was Franceinfo’s eco guest on Wednesday.
Franceinfo: The dynamic is extremely positive when we look at commercial relations between France and the United Kingdom. According to the latest figures available, they are up 18% over one year. How do you explain it?
Françoise Rausch: We explain it by the dynamics of companies, whether French or British, since it is in both directions that the increase occurs. In 2022, we reached a record year with more than 111 billion euros in turnover, trade between France and Great Britain and Great Britain and France on both sides. And I would say that this good progress continues to be consolidated since there was 18% more in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022.
Does Brexit ultimately have little effect on trade relations between France and the United Kingdom? Today, there are rising customs duties, trucks are waiting at the border, having to fill out paperwork, and that has no effect on trade?
It slowed down trade. But you know, businesses, they are beyond politics and we are two great countries that need each other. On an economic level, we are quite complementary. The UK sells more services to France than France sells services to the UK. On the other hand, France sells more goods to the United Kingdom than the United Kingdom sells to France. So, overall, companies maintained their prices, their pressure on the markets and continued to work.
Have the sectors of activity changed? Have the exchanges changed? France is today the sixth supplier to the United Kingdom, its eighth customer.
Yes, a little, but it’s relative. The United Kingdom remains first in terms of financial exchanges. Above all, it is not so much at the level of banks, it is at the level of consulting companies, accounting companies, auditing companies. Many have recovered. There is a dynamic of companies that know how to export outside Europe. But it is the market that creates the demand and it is the companies that adapt to meet this demand.
The United Kingdom, France’s trading partner and also an investor in our territory, is third behind the United States and Germany. Across the Channel, we no longer have this negative image that sticks to the skin of France with public transport broken down, the 35-hour week, the repeated strikes? Does all that no longer matter?
Companies that are extremely dynamic know how to go above and beyond. We always say “business as usual”, whatever the political environment. And then the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine showed us that it was difficult to bring products from China, India or Vietnam. What both French and British companies are trying to do is to secure their supplies by contacting closer countries, because that also reduces costs.