“It was easier to get aid across the border in the middle of a war than it is to get food into Europe.” Brexit is starting to wear on British trade.
Jan. 1. Before then, and before the Covid-19 pandemic upended world trade, Jason Wouhra’s food wholesale business in England’s West Midlands, Lioncroft Wholesale Ltd., generated up to a quarter of its annual revenue from customers in Spain, Portugal and other markets in the EU.
“U.K. PLC has become harder, slower, more expensive, more difficult to deal with as a result of Brexit,” said Dale Harris, chief executive of ATL Turbine Services Ltd., which repairs turbine components for customers world-wide in Dundee, Scotland. That was the worst performance in the Group of Seven advanced economies, which may help explain the U.K.’s sluggishness in trade compared with its peers, said Thomas Sampson, associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics.Francesca Jones for The Wall Street Journal
A free-trade pact struck by London and Brussels in the closing days of 2020 ensured there remained no tariffs and quotas on most cross-border trade between the bloc and its former member. However, U.K. trade with the EU is subject to many of the formalities that govern EU trade with other non-EU countries, such as the U.S. or China.
Plant-based food company VBites sent £250,000 worth of a new vegan cheese to France in February, intending to distribute it to long-term partners to drum up sales. Customs officials were unhappy with the paperwork and put the cheese in a refrigerated warehouse that was so cold all the samples were rendered inedible, said founder Heather Mills. A spokeswoman for France’s customs authority declined to comment, saying they can’t discuss individual cases.
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