Aussie (ex PM) Tony Abbott sums it up beautifully!-----
That article is appalling - riddled with untruths, misconceptions, contradictions and downright lies.
“Britain would automatically revert to world trade, using rules agreed by the World Trade Organization. It works pretty well for Australia.”
Here’s a list of all the Free Trade Agreements that Abbott thinks that Australia doesn’t have:
• Australia-New Zealand (ANZCERTA or CER) — 1 January 1983
• Singapore-Australia (SAFTA) — 28 July 2003
• Australia-United States (AUSFTA) — 1 January 2005
• Thailand-Australia (TAFTA) — 1 January 2005
• Australia-Chile (ACl-FTA) — 6 March 2009
• ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand (AANZFTA) — 1 January 2010 for eight countries: Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Burma, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. For Thailand: 12 March 2010. For Laos: 1 January 2011. For Cambodia: 4 January 2011. For Indonesia: 10 January 2012
• Malaysia-Australia (MAFTA) — 1 January 2013
• Korea-Australia (KAFTA) — 12 December 2014
• Japan-Australia (JAEPA) — 15 January 2015
• China-Australia (ChAFTA) — 20 December 2015
FTAs concluded but not yet in forceAustralia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement
Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement
Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus
signed in June 2017 by Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu.
FTAs under negotiation• Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement
• Australia-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Free Trade Agreement
• Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
• Environmental Goods Agreement
• Pacific Alliance Free Trade Agreement
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
• Trade in Services Agreement
Hang on, didn’t Abbott say “Freed from EU rules, Britain would automatically revert to world trade, using rules agreed by the World Trade Organization. It works pretty well for Australia.” Sure, it does, Mr Abbott, sure it does.
What is the UK’s current situation? As EU members, the UK currently benefits from over 750 international treaties. Some allow us to trade freely with the EU and 40+ non-EU countries. Others cover a host of other issues, from air worthiness to drivers licenses, UK & EU citizens rights, food safety, etc. Article 50 states that all EU treaties will automatically cease to apply to a country 2 years after it chooses to invoke Article 50. In the UK's case, that's 29 March 2019 at 11pm UK time.
On that date we lose the benefits of all those 750+ EU treaties we participate in. All the treaties end just like that, as if we'd fed them all through a giant shredder. That's not the EU being vindictive, it's just how A50 works.
As an EU member, the currently UK has free trade deals with 78 countries (22 more pending). They cover 60.7% of our imports & 66.9% of our exports. All gone, 50+ years worth of negotiations down the toilet.
What are tariffs for, anyway? Under WTO, we control our own tariffs for imports (we can set them to zero if we want to). So if e.g. we're desperate for cabbages, we can set a tariff of 0% to encourage other countries to sell them to us. However, we MUST treat every country in the world the same. So we can have cheap things, but at the expense of our domestic industry. If we take away all the cabbage quotas and set a 0% tariff, anyone in the world can flood the UK with cheap cabbages. Great if you like cabbage. Pretty devastating if you're a UK cabbage farmer.
Cheap cabbages, you say? But Abbott says our currency will devalue, so our cabbages will end probably up costing the same but we will probably no longer have a cabbage industry. The man is a genius!
Repeat that across multiple agricultural sectors and we have a major Food Security issue. That is a dereliction of parliament’s obligations for the UK's National Security.
However, at the same time, we have no control over other countries' import tariffs when the UK sells them goods. So the EU and other countries will impose the standard WTO tariffs on everything we send to them. Indeed, under WTO rules, they HAVE to.
Which leads me to this by Abbott:
“We’re talking levies [tariffs] of an average 4 or 5 per cent. Which would be more than offset by a post-Brexit devaluation of the pound (which would have the added bonus of making British goods more competitive everywhere).”
So, tariffs of 4-5% will be imposed, imports will be more expensive because the £ is worth less, but imports will be cheaper? I think Mr Abbott is on drugs.
“A world trade Brexit lets Britain set its own rules. It can say, right now, that it will not impose any tariff or quota on European produce and would recognise all EU product standards.”
So we can simultaneously set our own rules whilst Brussels sets product standards for us? Is that what “Taking back control” means?
But there’s more:
“…there should continue to be free movement of people from Europe into Britain — but with a few conditions. Only for work, not welfare.”
Those rules already exist under EU Freedom of Movement rules. It’s just that Home Secretaries, like, erm…Theresa May chose not to apply them. So what will change? I thought many brexiters wanted less forigners?
Finally, “technology allows for smart borders”.
An oft-repeated Brexit lie. Tell me where in the world does this mythical border exist right now? Explain how “technology” does physical checks.
In summary, I don’t think I have ever read a more dishonest article.
I'll ask again, what would an ideal Brexit look like as far as you're concerned?
