The UK's suggestion to maintain tariff-free border trade post-Brexit has been labelled as “not sustainable” by an industry expert.
Policy manager for the Freight Transport Association (FTA), Seamus Leheny, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, that the UK's suggestion was only ever for temporary tariff-free trade post-Brexit, expected to last up to 12 months.
Good to talk #brexit and ‘No Deal’ fears of NI businesses on @morningireland
— Seamus Leheny (@Freight_NI) April 2, 2019
A No Deal will only deliver a worst of both worlds for NI and leave us in a trading ‘no mans land’
Many NI goods sold to GB are derived from ingredients/components sourced across Ireland
He said after the period the WTO could be tempted to actually sue the UK, because the tariff-free trade area would be in breach of WTO rules that would automatically take effect in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Fed up
On the issue of cross-border trade, including agriculture goods, he he added that “England would be fed up with NI becoming a back door”, indicating that goods that normally landed in Holyhead could be funnelled through the border to avoid tariffs.
Lehany also said that in his opinion, a no-deal Brexit would mean a kind of “backstop 2.0”, as a hard border would apply to both the land border connecting the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland and a border across the Irish Sea.
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