Huge problems are becoming apparent in rolling over the 40 or so trade deals which the EU have negotiated and that we will no longer be a party to after Brexit, unless we come to an agreement with the 65-70 countries involved. The EU have expressed serious doubts about Liam Fox's ability to run the DIT effectively. He knows nothing about international trade and seems to believe the task is a doddle.
Business Insider website has a couple of reports on the subject. Firstly, (HERE) they claim the EU have expressed doubts about Dr Fox and his failure to grasp basic concepts and trade offs. His department is said to suffer from a lack of leadership and a refusal to accept advice from experts (sound familiar?).
The same website then report the CBI are worried (HERE) that what Fox is attempting to do, roll over the 40 trade deals, is near impossible and failure risks wiping out entire sectors of the economy.
"The UK fundamentally lacks the experience or the bandwidth to conduct 20 or more trade renegotiations in parallel to complete before the potential cliff edge of January 2021," the CBI's chief trade spokesperson, James Ashton-Bell, told BI.
Everywhere you look across the Brexit landscape from the Irish border to the European Aviation Safety Agency and from the customs union to rolling over trade deals you can only see smoke and bad news. The government will soon be completely overwhelmed.
I am still not totally convinced that Brexit will or can ever happen.
