FT reports on moves within the UK government to reduce reliance on China for key imported goods

Via the Financial Times, link here (may be gated)

  • Boris Johnson’s government is drawing up a strategy to reduce the UK’s reliance on China for key imported goods, as ministers acknowledge that a combination of the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit will force a big shake-up of the country’s supply chains.
  • Those working on the project, which is overseen by foreign secretary Dominic Raab, stressed it was primarily about strengthening the country’s trade links in the wake of coronavirus but would also lead to the production of some critical goods being brought back to the UK, after the pandemic exposed the UK’s reliance on imports. 
It’ll be difficult to disentangle this from UK-China tensions re 5G and Huawei.