Dave Plowman (News) wrote
tim... wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote
tim... wrote

WTO rules allow you to apply tariffs (to imports), they don't mandate it.

Currently we apply tariffs to food from ROW because the EU requires
us to do so to protect the vested interests of inefficient EU farmers.

Including our own, as it happens.

Not really given how much of Britain's food is imported.

If we left the EU we would have no need to be protectionist and
would (probably) remove all tariffs from imported foodstuffs, even
if the other countries that we import from did not reciprocate.

Think you'd find our farmers up in arms if you allowed
all and any food imports from the very cheapest source.

How odd that they didn’t before Britain joined the EFTA and EEC.

But perhaps that's what you want?

An independant UK is never going to have a problem importing goods.

Correct

but there is no need for us to make it artificially
more expensive like we do at the moment

Odd the recent calls we had for tariffs on Chinese steel, then?

Even you should notice that isnt food.

Why would it? Apart from perhaps
strategically sensitive stuff like arms, etc.

The difficult bit is exporting stuff - to pay for all those imports.

As I have said more than once, the majority of our exports are of
"quality"
and specialist products. The demand for those would not go away

And you think the price of those goods doesn't matter?

With some of them like docos and drama from the BBC
and ITV, yep, because no one else does anything like them.

Everyone will rush to buy them regardless because they are unique?

Not rush to buy them, just continue to buy them like they do now.

Be interesting to know what they are, though.

Docos and drama from the BBC and ITV.
Aircraft engines from RR. Scotch etc.
Still a few cars like RRs etc.