Expert says trade tariffs will return post-Brexit

EU agriculture expert Alan Matthews predicts that tariffs will be temporarily re-imposed on trade between the UK and the EU for the first time in more than 40 years, when the Brexit process is completed.

In the capreform.eu blog, he said it is in the EU’s interest to maintain as close an economic relationship with the UK as possible, and it should be willing to enter into the Brexit negotiations with the UK.

“However, I fear that even with this goodwill, we will not avoid a situation in which tariffs will be re-imposed,” he says. Trade tariffs could seriously damage Irish food and drink exports into the UK of €4.4bn per year.