As talks loom, ‘hard Brexit’ option raises fear of tariffs
LONDON — Is it cod or haddock?
That’s the sort of question that will matter to Britain if it leaves the European Union’s tariff-free single market and ends up operating under rules overseen by the World Trade Organization.
A complete divorce, often referred to as “hard Brexit,” would see the EU impose tariffs on an estimated 15,000 goods, in no uniform way: some British exports, like pharmaceuticals, would face no extra charge but the large majority would.
How big the tariffs are will depend on a complex series of factors. So cod and haddock may sit side by side in your average British “fish and chip” restaurant but they are classified differently by the EU — cod would be slapped with a 12 per cent tariff and haddock 7.5 per cent.