Re: A new and serious problem
On the complexity of post brexit work, here is a nice article from the Irish times.
"If there is one thing that might drive the UK and the EU towards a trade deal after Brexit it is the head-wrecking complexity that will result if they don’t.
Doing a deal will, of course, be difficult. But not doing one would leave trade between the United Kingdom and the European Union governed by rules set by the World Trade Organisation – and recasting these for a post-Brexit world would fall into the category of
egg unscrambling.
........The rules governing trade are like a large building with multiple extensions built on over the years. Nobody knows how it quite holds together, but somehow it does. Central to this are schedules drawn up by each member of the WTO, outlining the basis on which it trades and, in particular, the tariffs – financial duties on imports – that it applies. Because the UK has belonged to the EU since 1973, its trade arrangements are, like those of all EU members, negotiated centrally, in Brussels.
After Brexit the UK will need to have its own schedule of trade arrangements with the rest of the world, under the aegis of the WTO. "
“Nontariff barriers, such as quotas – the amount of goods a country is permitted to import or export – can be more difficult to negotiate than the tariffs themselves,” according to Keegan"
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/...exit-1.3237446