BRITISH EXPORTS

British exports are in discussion due to the EU and TTIP. Cameron is saying that 44% of British exports go to the EU. Then there is discussion about why the Netherlands is the third biggest customer of British exports. The Rotterdam Effect is then discussed due to a lot of British exports going via Rotterdam to its final destination. America and Germany are the biggest importers of British products and services after the Netherlands due to the shipping via Rotterdam they say.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36229579

However, the article provided by the BBC does not explain how some British products go to distributors in America, and then those distributors send those products back to the UK.

What does that do, it increases the figures for American exports, when in fact it is British product that they have imported, then exported. All of those shipping costs when America as a market tied up by its distributors.

In 2001, I discovered that America had 85% of a British market tied up through one of its distributors in America. At the time, it seemed 'absurd' to me that Brits had to export to America, just to get their products into UK shops, because America had managed to get a stronghold and monopoly of a specific market.

You might ask why? British retailers were ordering so much American product from one American distributor, that it was the only way that British people could get their product on the shelves in the UK. They said it was easier for them to just receive one invoice instead of work with lots of different companies. It enabled independent shops to order everything from one supplier, instead of shop around, and invest in British product.

Seriously, who in their right mind would only buy from one supplier when providing for your customers? It got to the point that British people got so fed up of reading books from American publishers, and listening to American voices on meditation CD's, that many people stopped buying them, and a lot of those shops that were stocking all of that American product closed down.

There wasn't really a fair exchange because Americans were not buying British product, they only wished for the British to buy theirs. If you provided top quality, you could get your product onto the shelves of the American distributors because they were shipping to the UK, the rest of Europe, Australia and South Africa, being the largest markets for the product. America had 85% of the global market for self-development and spiritual products.

However, North American retailers were not taking British stock for their North American customers that like to hear an English voice. Americans were protecting their own market, and that is what the Brits should've done. If those independent shops had stocked the creative work provided by British manufacturers, those shops would probably still be thriving and prospering.

As Thatcher advised, 'Buy British'.