Irritated by an endless Brexit, the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have demanded compensation from the EU and the United Kingdom. This is due to the threat of a no-deal Brexit (‘hard Brexit’), but also to the repeated extensions of the British withdrawal date.
At a meeting of the WTO Council for Trade in Goods on Thursday 14 November, these non-Member States urged the EU and London to provide better access to their markets to offset current and future trade disruptions, a Genevan official reported.
The trading partners of the Twenty-Eight had already fiercely opposed the allocation of tariff quotas between the EU and its British partner (see EUROPE 12203/23, 12266/31).
The GATT allows a member to adjust its quotas as long as it does not negatively affect the situation of other partners. But these States fear that some of these allocations may be too small to be commercially viable.
In addition, given the uncertainty of the future trade relationship between the two sides, these States fear that they will have to share EU quotas with British producers and vice versa, reported the same source. “We will be quickly crowded out and face a loss of access to both markets”, said the US representative.
Brazil, for its part, expressed concern that the customs arrangements between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, included in the ‘backstop’, may violate the Most Favoured Nation principle. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)