City AM passes on some fear-mongering:
Food prices will soar on key supermarket items such as mozzarella, tomatoes and apples if the UK does not secure a transitional trade agreement, retail's industry body has warned.
If the EU and the UK fail to agree to maintain current tariff rates, trading of goods will come under the rules governed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This means tariffs on Italian mozzarella and Irish cheddar will jump to 45.5 per cent and 44.1 per cent respectively on the day the UK officially exits the EU.
Ray Symons, head of European and International Affairs at the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said: "If the UK and EU fail to reach an agreement...it is difficult to see how this couldn’t affect shop prices."
Nope.
The WTO does not set minimum or standard tariffs at all, the UK is free to impose lower rates or abolish tariffs unilaterally. The WTO is all about encouraging countries to reduce their import tariffs, abolish import quotas etc.
Triple layer tinfoil
1 hour ago
8 comments:
I've posted a link to your blog piece in the comments. Let's see if they publish it..
Lol, so is it going to be the irish and italians that are going to drag you to the WTO to impose the maximum tariffs on them? Maybe the BRC believes that the EU will inevitably impose maximum tariffs on the UK, and therefore the UK will have to do tit for tat.
L, thanks, and now have done.
Kj the EU might well impose hefty tariffs, but if they do and the UK does not, they will look like the bad guys.
The idea that WTO rules would *force* the UK to impose tariffs on imports is a surprisingly persistent canard.
And I think we could do without Irish cheddar, thank you very much.
C, they keep repeating it though... why? Project Fear or stupidity?
Test.
Fail
MW @ 1549, the former. It's a lie and a very useful one.
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