Myopic Brexiters see the WTO as some sort of safety net that'll save us from economic collapse once we become the least competitive advanced economy in the world in five months' time.

But the net has some gaping holes in it.

/1

1. WTO protections don't really cover services, and there is no set "maximum tariff" on services that other WTO members can impose.

The service industry accounts for 80% of the UK's GDP.

/2

2. Trump, who is very much against free trade and a great believer in protectionism, has all-but neutralised the arbitration process at the WTO, so if we feel a bigger economy (EU/USA/China etc) is treating us unfairly, the WTO will currently offer us next to no protection.

/3

3. Just about every major economy that we want to do business with is a member of the WTO, & therefore has to stick to WTO rules. They can't "do us a favour" and lower their tariffs just for us, because that would be in violation of the WTO's "Most Favoured Nation" principle.

/4

Could we just leave the WTO and not have to worry about the Most Favoured Nation rule? Not unless everybody else left as well. MFN rules apply for trade between member and non-member states as well. And the WTO has 164 members. The entire UN has 193.

/5

But even if everyone else left and/or the WTO collapsed, that still doesn't help the fact that we are on course to be the ONLY advanced economy in the world without ANY
substantial free trade deals. That means tariffs being slapped on pretty much EVERYTHING we export.

/6

Those tariffs are punitive taxes that will be placed on British exports by other countries that flow into the coffers of... other countries.

Remember: there's vanishingly little we produce in the UK that can't be produced somewhere that can export largely tariff-free.

/7

But not to worry, we have top people working on replacing the 759 individual free trade treaties that we've just put through the shredder thanks to us crashing out of the EU.

Who?

Top... people.



/ends