Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
I would prefer a trade deal, but not continuing membership of the Common Market or Customs Union, and not at any price.
If I read Mick correctly, he would just like to pull out with no deal. I, however, would only support that if the deal being offered was unreasonable. A cost of £50bn is the absolute maximum I would wish to go to, and then only if it could be justified.
As far as WTO tariffs are concerned, you do know that tariffs are only applied if the importing country wants them to apply, right? The EU is a declining market for our exports, whereas our imports from the EU are increasing, so guess who will be more affected by the imposition of tariffs?
It's strange that you would want to use agriculture as part of your argument. The Common Agricultural Policy is a disgrace and benefits French farmers in particular. This country has long campaigned to get rid of it. The fisheries policy in particular gets my goat - our fishing industry is a pale shadow of what it used to be, and all those fish that are thrown back - dead - into the sea is unforgivable.
Basically, we can import and export agricultual products without the EU if necessary. I really wouldn't lose any sleep over that. It would be good to trade with our Commonwealth partners again, as we used to before the EEC.
As for the automotive industry, do you really think that Germany would welcome us applying tariffs on their exports to us? We buy an awful lot of cars from Germany, but we don't have to.
I certainly agree that Brexit will make a big difference to GB, but most of the important changes are positives; the negatives can be handled without major implications. Most of the panic comes from people who can't get to grips with how this will work, but over the next year or so, this will become clear.
Interesting to see how things have quietened down since we got to Phase II, which many remainers thought would never happen.
|
Oh yes, I was aware that we can set our own tariffs, hence the question - protectionism with high tariffs or free trade with low ones? Without a trade deal with the EU, we would have to fall back on our WTO MFN tariffs and it will be interesting to see what the government decides they want them to be. Under the WTO, everyone pays the same tariffs for import unless there's a deal so the German car industry would have the same leverage as Mini, Nissan, Honda, Vauxhall/Opel, etc. in the UK with exports i.e, none.
The EU by its nature is protectionist, hence the high tariffs on agricultural products which protect farmers not just in France but across the EU. In 2015, the EU tried to increase tariffs on steel to protect the European steel industry, including South Wales but the UK Government vetoed it.
As Mick isn't answering, you said the GB will be better off out of the EU. How will the person on the street be better off?