Brexit and TTIP: international delivery experts reveal why it matters if Britain ‘goes to the back of the queue’ on trade deals
President Obama is pushing for a US-EU trade agreement before he leaves office, and warns it could take the UK ten years to reach a similar deal with the US if it quits the EU. The international courier ParcelHero reveals UK consumers will still pay £millions in duties set to be axed for US-EU trade post-Brexit.
President Obama’s controversial statement last week that Britain would go ‘to the back of the queue’ on trade deals if it leaves the EU, ties in with his increased efforts to get agreement on the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) by the end of the year. Following Obama’s push for agreement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel this weekend, the international delivery experts ParcelHero are warning in a new report that significant tariffs on US-UK sales will remain if we leave the EU; tariffs that will be scrapped between the USA and the rest of Europe following the TTIP.
Says ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT: ‘TTIP is effectively a “free trade” agreement that will axe duties on goods between the USA and the EU. Currently many items sold between the two trading blocks are subject to these duties: for example, US buyers pay 2.5% tariffs on EU-built cars and Europe pays 10% on US-made cars. These are planned to be scrapped under the new TTIP agreement. But ParcelHero’s significant new report – Delivering Brexit: The True Cost of Leaving the EU – reveals that a go-it-alone UK would not be included in the new partnership and its exports to the US would continue to be subject to US tariffs. That’s why the President has stressed the need for the UK to remain within the EU, or face a five to ten year wait before it can negotiate its own deal.’
The UK-US market is a significant one. Last year Britain shipped $57.8bn of goods to the USA, including over $5.86bn cars, and imported $5.46bn of US products, including $133m of cars. UK-sourced items, from Cadbury chocolates to Range Rovers, will continue to be subject to duties on arrival in the US if the UK does not qualify for the partnership, and this also applies to US products shipped to the UK. For example, a £25,000 Jeep Cherokee in the UK will only cost the equivalent of £22,500 in the EU, once the union has signed the TTIP.
Explains David: ‘Following President Obama’s meeting with Chancellor Merkel this weekend, many experts now believe the TTIP could be agreed before President Obama leaves office in January 2017; but it certainly will not happen before the UK Brexit vote takes place on June 23rd this year. As President Obama made clear, that would put the UK outside the terms of the agreement.’
Concludes David: ‘The USA is ParcelHero’s largest single country market, representing 25% of our total shipments; and a recent report from our partner delivery company FedEx on UK SMEs found the USA was their top global market beyond the EU. 35% of UK exporting SMEs ship to the US. It’s a vitally important relationship for both countries, and it is concerning that Brexit could have a significant damaging impact on this trade’.
Read the full report at: www.parcelhero.com/brexit
For more information please contact David Jinks, Head of PR, on david@parcelhero.com or by phone on 0208 7584962 (07772 055748 out of office hours)
Leading international online courier ParcelHero® strategically partners with the world's leading logistics companies, including DHL, UPS and DPD, to provide a flexible, cost-effective range of parcel delivery services to over 220 countries worldwide. Huge bulk purchasing power allows ParcelHero® to offer highly competitive pricing with no compromise in service quality.
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