Mexico to hike tariffs on China starting Thursday reut.rs/4bdsXnl

Rules of origin are so back. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Wrapping presents and bloody hell

Here’s the HMT answer on their impact assessment. TLDR - we’ve done one but we won’t publish it until the final policy decision is announced.

How your email finds me

**taps sign**

The vibe.

The Making Tax Digital stuff looks very annoying

From Ed Gresser's (is he on here?) latest newsletter. Tariffs have come for Christmas.

Hello, I thought it would be nice to finish the year (at least for MFN) with some Christmas cheer and optimism. You. Are. Welcome. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/trump-didn...

Hello, I thought it would be nice to finish the year (at least for MFN) with some Christmas cheer and optimism. You. Are. Welcome. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/trump-didn...

Is Trump going to have as big an impact on trade in 2026 as he did in 2025? Possibly ... but it's going to look a bit different. New @flint-global.com piece with colleagues: flint-global.com/blog/the-tru...

Reminder: import tax assessment in key end products is still in front of us. (Furniture, cabinets) Solid look ahead report here from Sam et al.

Is Trump going to have as big an impact on trade in 2026 as he did in 2025? Possibly ... but it's going to look a bit different. New @flint-global.com piece with colleagues: flint-global.com/blog/the-tru...

And here's the latest edition of MFN, in which I try to explain what a customs union is ... again. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/customs-un...

“Fine and technical” is my middle name

And here's the latest edition of MFN, in which I try to explain what a customs union is ... again. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/customs-un...

we want to see Starmer's drawing skills

My tip: go full niche to the point that you only communicate in acronyms. Drive away casual readers. Dad jokes.

Gearing up for my annual “this is what a customs union does and doesn’t do” post or thread

New from me at the @CatoInstitute blog: "For US Businesses, Tariff Complexity Is 'Death by a Thousand Papercuts'" www.cato.org/blog/us-busi...

Hahaha. Actual work photo of me versus ChatGPT “improved” work photo of me.

Yes. Rejoining would conceivably be positive for the UK economy, but it’s very difficult to foresee a situation in which rejoining leaves the UK in the same economic position as if it had never left.

No more small parcels for you. Or you. Certainly not you. substack.com/home/post/p-...

No more small parcels for you. Or you. Certainly not you. substack.com/home/post/p-...

It’s always sweet when the one year old gives you a surprise present, even when it’s a half chewed raspberry in your shoe.

"In some 25 years only one French baker has been recognised by Germany as a meister permitted to run a bakery." In fairness, French bread is not the national cuisine's best exhibit. www.ft.com/content/cbfd...

“What does running a bootstrapped news organisation involve?” “Well aside from having to do the reporting, editing, commissioning, invoicing, and payroll… you also spend a lot of time posting garden implements to competition winners.”

Heh. @jim.londoncentric.media

Tbh this is what you get if you put key institutions in Newport.

Bracing myself to spend the entire day on the Piccadilly line after arriving at the gym (by my office) without my change of clothes (still in a bag in my living room). No way to live.

I may have lost my voice

Trying to work out whether I’ve hit an all time high or low with tonight’s dinner for the kids: omelette, jasmine rice with Parmesan on it, raspberries, blueberries

The vibe.

Just want to recommend @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social latest MFN substack on the new(ish) rules of control. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/rules-of-c...

This week's edition of MFN is about "rules of control" and why who owns the company that makes the product is going to end up mattering just as much as where the product is from. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/rules-of-c...

This week's edition of MFN is about "rules of control" and why who owns the company that makes the product is going to end up mattering just as much as where the product is from. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/rules-of-c...

The vibe.

The first rule of trade club …

I’ve got an idea for how to raise some extra money, and hear me out … tariffs?

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ARGENTINA COMMITTED TO FACILITATING DIGITAL TRADE WITH U.S. BY RECOGNIZING U.S. AS AN ADEQUATE JURISDICTION UNDER ARGENTINE LAW FOR CROSS-BORDER TRANSFER OF DATA

**Acknowledges the rain** **Steps on a flight to Barcelona**

In a cab listening to the radio: 20 minutes of Jeremy Vine suffering, loudly, through a sports massage. Feeling weirdly patriotic.

Exclusive: My interview with Dutch economy minister Vincent Karremans on what exactly went on at Nexperia. "It is a wake up call" for Europe I would do it all again. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Caption contest

Mexico raised tariffs of up to 210% on sugar imports from countries with which it doesn’t have a trade deal, part of a plan to protect the domestic industry from falling prices.

Finally found my true calling: “sofa”

Speaking of which! bsky.app/profile/raja...

So this sort of rules of origin definition already exists in the context of eg EU rules of origin for fish, where the ownership of the vessel that caught them matters. on.ft.com/3Lt93Kh Here’s what a new US-Mexico-Canada trade deal should look like

Some new thoughts on how, if you were the President of the US and a court were to tell you you are not allowed to do some tariffs, you could absolutely do some other tariffs. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/how-to-do-...