Showing posts with label trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trade. Show all posts

Monday, 18 September 2017

Brexit Forensics - Faisal Islam on the UK car industry

One of Sky News's most respected journalists analyses different aspects of the effects of Brexit, as currently envisaged (a complete dog's breakfast in jingoism sauce), on the UK. I'll try to post the start of each Twitter thread as it is published.

Appropriately, given the recurrent and (in the opinion of many - remember this? The Brexit Blog: The German car industry and Brexit) unwarranted optimism about the UK car industry saving jobs post-Brexit, this is the first thread.

Click on this link to read the full thread.
There will probably be comments from RuTrolls and bigots. Ignore them.

A longer version exists:
Several points worth going into on this latter thread:

  • Manufacturing across several countries doesn't just involve queues at Customs and filling in a few forms, while hoping you won't be refused entry. There are also complex tax issues, including VAT. This is part of what is meant by by the UK being a "gateway to Europe" for many businesses.
  • 50% increase in stocks is massive: it means money is tied up in inventories rather than being reinvested in the future of the company.
  • The chances of May successfully lobbying the EU for anything unless Brexit is cancelled are pretty damn remote, but it does give us an idea of what the UK is in for under her rule.


Thursday, 17 August 2017

The Brexit Blog: The German car industry and Brexit

The German car industry occupies a particular and peculiar place within the Brexiter imagination. Particular, because it is invariably cited to ‘prove’ that an excellent UK-EU trade deal is inevitable. French cheese and Italian Prosecco occasionally feature in pursuit of the same argument but less often, perhaps because Brexiters hope that referencing German cars will make some “Vorsprung Durch Technik” rub off on their threadbare case.

At all events, the centrality of German car makers to the case for Brexit was expressed repeatedly during the Referendum campaign by, for example, Peter Hargreaves, the biggest individual donor (£3.2M) to the Leave campaign...

Read on: The Brexit Blog: The German car industry and Brexit

Monday, 10 July 2017

EU with a View: an Economist's Take on the Brexiteers' Free Trade Fantasies by @FiratUenlue