The year has come to a close and it’s time to reflect on the year and how it’s been for us.
We can take some time to appreciate the incredible achievements of the year, which includes a record number of births, the biggest increase in carbon emissions, a record global warming of 2.5 degrees Celsius (3.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the largest global decline in malaria cases, and record global trade.
There’s also a lot to be excited about.
We’ve had some truly incredible achievements.
We have a record year for human population growth.
There are now more people in the world than there were at the end of the Cold War.
We’re on track to overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy, according to the IMF.
And we’ve got record global carbon emissions.
But we’ve also got record trade volumes.
We were already at a global trade surplus last year.
And yet we’ve seen a lot of global trade slowdown.
This is partly due to our globalisation, and partly due a series of global events, including the global financial crisis and the Brexit vote.
The trade surplus was already declining.
It has been declining for a while.
So, there are some worrying signs.
But there are also some hopeful signs.
As our trade surplus falls, we’re going to see a shift in the way trade is conducted in the global economy.
This will create new opportunities for businesses to invest in our economy and create jobs.
And it will also give a boost to the global economies that rely on exports.
The global economy is already very strong.
We are on track for a global GDP growth of 7.7 per cent this year, a much stronger pace than the United Kingdom’s 7.2 per cent, and the United Nations’ 5.8 per cent.
And the UK has a much lower trade deficit than the US.
But the US has a massive trade deficit with China, which is about $200 billion a year.
That’s more than the entire trade deficit between Germany and France.
And China is a big part of the global economic system.
So we’re also going to have to change how we do business.
China is the world leader in creating a massive number of knock-offs and knock-down-drag-outs.
They make all kinds of products that are completely indistinguishable from the real thing.
That is going to create massive competition and a huge amount of waste.
So the big challenge for the next five years is to make sure that we don’t make that mistake again.
China has already made some important concessions in trade and investment.
Last year, it announced it would cap the value of imports from some of the most polluting countries.
This year, they announced that it would raise tariffs on steel, aluminium, and cement.
This week, they said they would also impose tariffs on some of our most important exports, like beef, pork, and dairy products.
And last year, the UK government also announced it was setting up an independent inquiry into how our companies are doing business in China.
The inquiry will be a big step towards addressing some of these challenges.
We want to ensure that we’re doing the right things for our businesses in China, and we want to make clear that there is a very clear policy on who we trade with.
We know that some companies are using Chinese suppliers.
We also know that there are companies using Chinese-made products.
The UK government has made it clear that we are not in business with these companies.
And so it is our job as a government to make it clear to China that this is not acceptable and we are going to look at it very closely.
We will not allow any of those things to happen.
So it’s clear to me that we need to change our approach to how we operate.
We need to look closely at how our firms are doing.
And that means we need a new approach to our trade policy, because the current trade policy is not working for Britain.
In fact, the only thing that is working for the British economy is a massive transfer of wealth from the British people to the Chinese economy.
That means the Chinese can continue to exploit the British public for decades to come.
We don’t want that.
So my priority is going forward with an ambitious and bold reform package to make Britain the global leader in climate change.
That package will include measures that would help the UK meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement, which are the most ambitious climate change policies in the developed world.
We’ll invest in renewable energy and we’ll increase investment in research and development to develop renewable energy.
We won’t just be cutting carbon emissions in the economy and putting them back into the atmosphere.
That will give us the opportunity to put people back to work.
That includes those who are currently in low-paid jobs, who can’t find work, who are struggling to pay their bills.
And of course, we’ll help people get back on their feet by giving them the tools they need to start businesses