Europe Editor
This week, as Brexit took effect, a company in Cork that sells sports posters to Europe and around the world ceased all direct online sales to the UK. There s no point having the hassle, said Wayne Mullins, a graphic designer who runs Kobe Designs. I ll just not send to the UK. I ll keep selling to the [United] States and the rest of the world.
The UK market accounts for 50% of Mullins s sales. It s a significant part of the business, but it s just not worth taking the risk for now, he said.
Within days of a zero tariff, zero quota free trade post-Brexit agreement being struck, it appears that unforeseen, unheralded or just poorly understood frictions have come to the surface, hitting companies like Kobe Designs.
Cross-Channel trade bumps emerge post-Brexit kuwaittimes.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kuwaittimes.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
2021-01-02 13:05:45 GMT2021-01-02 21:05:45(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
LONDON, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) The post-Brexit trade deal agreed by Britain and the European Union (EU) last month can be seen to bring both challenges and potential opportunities for Northern Ireland (NI), David Phinnemore, professor of European politics at Queen s University Belfast, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
The fact that there was a deal which allows for zero tariffs, zero quota movement of goods, was welcomed in Northern Ireland, but did not remove frictions that were not clarified in the deal. The deal is obviously much thinner than we thought it was going to be a year ago, it probably does not live up to the expectations that the UK and the EU had when they concluded the withdrawal agreement, said Phinnemore.
The Northern Ireland Protocol governing trade between Great Britain and the region comes into effect when the Brexit transition period ends at 11pm on New Year’s Eve.
Here are answers to some of the main questions about the protocol, its origins and how it will work.
– Why was the protocol needed?
It was the resolution to the main sticking point in the Brexit divorce talks – the Irish border. In order to avoid disrupting cross-border trade and a return of checkpoints along the politically sensitive frontier, the EU and UK essentially agreed to move new regulatory and customs processes to the Irish Sea. That means the checks are now focused on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.