Thursday 10 December 2020

BBC is doing it again

From the BBC:

Will food be more expensive after 1 January?

Under WTO rules, supermarkets and other importers would have to pay substantial tariffs on many foods they bring in from the EU. Meat and dairy products face particularly high tariffs, but many other areas including fruit and vegetables would be also affected.


The BBC can't even be bothered to read its own summary of what the WTO is about:

The WTO was established in 1995, when it took over essentially the same functions from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt), which came into force in 1948.

One of the motivations for creating the Gatt was a wish to dismantle the barriers to trade that had been erected between the two world wars. Most economists regard the establishment of these interwar trade barriers as misguided and say they probably aggravated the Great Depression of the 1930s...

A series of eight "rounds" of negotiations under the Gatt led to the progressive reduction in trade tariffs - taxes which are imposed only on imported products.


The minimum - and indeed the recommended - tariff imposed under WTO "rules" is precisely zero. Given how useless the UK government is, they might well impose tariffs on imported food, but this will be entirely self-inflicted. This will be the UK government waging economic warfare against its own people, and if the EU imposes tariffs on imports from businesses in the UK, that is them waging economic warfare against citizens of EU Member States.

10 comments:

Lola said...

And the GATT grew out of a conference during WW2 between The Allies. I think it was called the Atlantic Declaration. The principle drivers and signatories were the US and the UK+Empire+Dominions. Bet the Beeb won't recognize that.

mombers said...

Isn't the issue that if we say 0%, it's for any country that wants to export to us? Think of the poor farmers who can't produce very efficiently!

I think that the dream of Brexit leading to freer trade is going to be challenged. When in a huge trading block like the EU, it's a lot more difficult for industry x to invest in a few elections to get protected from competition. If the industry can invest in the elections of one country though, I expect to see lots of MPs lobbying for tariffs, subsidies, etc for their campaign sponsors

mombers said...

Can I say 'Corn Laws Part II'?

Mark Wadsworth said...

L, they will when it suits them. "WTO is a cover operation for large US corporations to flood third world with cheap exports"

M, yes, you can say Corn Laws part II. Whether there is more or less bribery and lobbying in large or small countries is debatable. The EU is one giant mess of corporatism and back handers. Getting one EU law in your favour is superb value for money.

Is the UK any better? I don't know any more, Johnson and his little friends have taken corruption to new heights.

Dinero said...

Following on from mombers comment there is also the removal of existing tariffs to consider.

George Carty said...

Surely if food prices rise under a WTO Brexit it won't be because of tariffs?

After all, IIRC the main focus of the "Out" campaign in the 1975 referendum was that the CAP had increased food prices in Britain (by imposing tariffs on Commonwealth food), and the Tories must surely know how food protectionism is political suicide in Britain, given that when they flirted with it in 1906 it resulted in one of the biggest landslide defeats in their history?

Mark Wadsworth said...

Din, chance would be a fine thing. I voted 'Leave', I didn't vote in this shower of shit to mess it all up.

GC, we shall see how dumb the UK government is, won't we?

And, even a UK MEP (landowner and farmer = subsidy junkie, but apart from that, decent boke) admitted this, what was true in 1975 was no longer true in 2010 (or whenever he said it). The EU had significantly reduced its tariffs by then.

Bayard said...

"Can I say 'Corn Laws Part II'?"
"Johnson and his little friends have taken corruption to new heights."

The current bunch of Tories might be extremely corrupt, but they still have a way to go before they reach the depths of 200 years ago.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, I can't remember that far back. But during my lifetime, they have become increasingly brazen about it all. John Major's government were choir boys in comparison.

Robin Smith said...
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