As Brussels prepares to ‘go nuclear’, Facts4EU reveal EU's decade of £2.35 TRILLION goods sales to UK.
If the EU starts a trade war, they will put economies and hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk
On Friday afternoon in Brussels, the EU threatened the United Kingdom with “serious consequences” if the UK goes ahead with its plans to protect Northern Ireland in the next three weeks.
“Let there be no doubt that triggering Article 16 – to seek the renegotiation of the Protocol – would have serious consequences.” - EU Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič , Brussels, Fri 05 Nov 2021
Is the EU preparing to go on the warpath?
Unsurprisingly, the Brussels machine has been war-gaming its response options, should the UK invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol at the end of this month. In these circumstances the hardliners in the EU Commission are determined to teach the British a lesson, by moving as rapidly as possible to the ‘nuclear option’ of suspending all or part of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).
We understand that the EU Commission is exploring all options at its disposal to punish the United Kingdom, from those contained in the TCA itself to other, seemingly dubious (from a legal point of view) courses of action. For its part, the UK Government recently started a rapid recruitment drive for more lawyers experienced in international relations.
But can the EU really afford to put its UK trade at risk? Facts4EU.Org punched the numbers
These days international trade is a complex business, governed by agreements that often stray far beyond the mechanics of trade into all manner of ‘standards’ and ‘values’ which have almost nothing to do with the goods being traded.
That said, here is the cold, hard truth for the EU of what it would be putting at risk, if it chose to start a trade war with the United Kingdom – its ‘Treasure Island’.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
EU goods sales at risk in an EU Commission-invoked trade war Last 10 years – 2011-2020
£2.35 trillion of EU goods sales to UK in last 10 years (£2,348,443,000,000)
The EU has been selling 52% more to the UK than it buys
£808 BILLION surplus on its trade with the UK in last 10 years (£807,763,000,000)
Source: Office for National Statistics – latest trade report.]
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