Due to the obstruction of trade and transportation between Britain and Europe, some fish prices plummeted, and many British fishermen complained about it. Some fishermen simply stopped exporting seafood to the EU market.
Although Boris Johnson claims that Britain will conduct duty-free trade after the end of the transition period of leaving the EU on June 5438+February 3 1, consumers still have to pay import duties, value-added tax and express delivery management fees when purchasing goods from the EU website, which consumers think is unreasonable.
From June 65438+1 October1,people who buy goods from the EU (and vice versa) face import fees. Because consumers on both sides of the Taiwan Province Strait are unwilling to pay high import fees, the new regulations put thousands of enterprises at risk.
Paul, the business owner with 50 employees, said: "Almost one third of the annual turnover of 7 million pounds comes from customers in EU countries/regions. But at present, we will have to pay a lot of money. " Paul has been trying to figure out how to bear the extra cost. It turns out that these expenses will come directly from profits.
He added: "We may save some of the cost of doing business in Europe by setting up a warehouse in Europe, so as to avoid paying for each batch of goods, but we will have to lay off staff in the warehouse here and reduce the scale of our business in Europe. Although we are only a relatively small enterprise, all importers and exporters are accusing this new regulation. "
According to the British "Guardian" 65438+1October 23rd, since Britain left the EU, British foreign trade enterprises have to face additional tax burden and approval. Therefore, British international trade officials privately suggested to British exporters that border issues and corresponding value-added tax could be circumvented by registering new companies in the EU.
It is reported that two British companies have decided to register new companies in the EU, but many small and medium-sized enterprises have not yet made a decision. A person in charge said that this is a last resort decision, which also means that some British employees will be laid off. However, he also said that this can really avoid the time delay caused by cross-border and reduce transportation costs. So far, the British Department of International Trade has not commented on this.
The influence of "Britain's withdrawal from the EU" on foreign trade.
EU exporters: Stop selling to the UK.
Before Britain leaves the EU, exporting companies can check the payment and collection of VAT through electronic system, and the electronic system can calculate which countries will benefit from which taxes. Because of 65438+ 10/month 1, the EU no longer verifies the UK VAT number, so the UK VAT must be collected at the point of sale instead of the point of import and handed over to HMRC.
In this regard, many EU suppliers are affected. For example, a company cannot import jeans from Bangladesh or cheese from France to a center in Britain and then send it to a store in Ireland. Because they have to pay a lot of export taxes.
Dutch Bike Bits, a bicycle parts supplier, said on its website that it was forced to stop dealing with British customers because of the policy of "Britain leaving the EU", even though it "has many customers in the UK and hopes to cooperate with them for a long time".
Scandinavian Outdoor, a Finnish outdoor clothing retailer, said that it had stopped selling in the UK, but hoped that once "our UK VAT registration and the whole process of selling to the UK after the UK left the EU were solved", it could place an order again.
Other companies that decided to stop shipping to British consumers include Belgian beer expert Beer Web, BestSecret, German designer's product website, Belgian chocolate manufacturer Neuhaus and Dutch household goods store Hema, which just closed their online stores facing the UK.
Port: The ship stays for more than 32 hours.
Hundreds of British truck drivers were fined for crossing Kent without permission because of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. Since 65438+1 October1came into effect, the British police have issued 407 tickets. Trucks going to France from all over Britain must obtain Kent Pass before entering Kent, so that they can get the right of passage to Dover Port or the European Tunnel.
Felixstowe is the largest port in Britain, which usually handles 40% of all container transportation in Britain, but now each ship stays in the port for more than 32 hours on average, which forces the shipper to transfer the goods to other ports. At the end of last year, Maersk and MSC began to replace Felixstowe with Liverpool on the transatlantic TA2/NEUATL2 ring route.
The Irish tax Commissioner announced that they were trying to relax their trade policy. However, there are still many people complaining that the loading truck was stuck in Dublin Port during the inspection.
Some enterprises expect that there will be cross-border problems in Europe, and they will fill their warehouses with goods (such as auto parts and medicines) before the end of the transition period of Britain's exit from the EU. So far, this has kept cross-border traffic at a fraction of the normal level. In the next few weeks, as these stocks decrease, business activities will increase and delays will increase again.
Freight: freight difference, delivery delay.
The biggest crux of Britain's withdrawal from the EU negotiations is the border issue between Northern Ireland and Ireland, a member of the EU. In the end, Britain and Europe reached an agreement that the trade between Northern Ireland and the European Union would not be blocked, but goods from Northern Ireland must go through a series of complicated customs declaration and sampling procedures if they want to enter the British market on the island of Great Britain.
According to the Irish Freight Forwarders Association, the supply chain has been "seriously affected" since the end of Britain's withdrawal from the EU on February 3/KLOC-0. For all exporters, because the policy is not clear, they can't handle customs declaration correctly, so they leave auto parts, household goods, furniture, clothes and groceries in the warehouse. The end result is that our profit margin is very narrow. Enterprises will stop trading, which will lead to unemployment, the disappearance of supply lines, the shortage of consumers and the rise of prices.
In addition, due to Britain's withdrawal from the EU, goods between the EU and Britain need to go through new customs procedures, which is very complicated. It is reported that France Post DPD Company has suspended some services in Britain and Europe at present, and then DB Schenker also suspended its freight service to Britain due to the great delay caused by numerous customs documents.
Recently, DHL issued a notice that some services in Britain and Europe will be suspended immediately, which aggravated the negative impact of Britain's withdrawal from the EU. However, DFDS, a large Danish logistics company, said that a "large number" of trucks were rejected or delayed because the ferry from Dover, England to France did not have accurate policy rules.
predictive parsing
Cui Hongjian, director of the European Institute of China Institute of International Studies, said that after the agreement on Britain's withdrawal from the EU is reached, Britain will face an important challenge in the future: the implementation and enforcement of the agreement. Despite the so-called "win-win arrangement", all parties have no idea about the specific direction of British-European trade.
Cui Hongjian pointed out that after Brexit, the concept of "global Britain" faced greater risks to some extent. On the one hand, as a single sovereign country, Britain's influence in participating in regional diplomatic and security affairs and economic and trade affairs is decreasing, and it does not have the strength to participate in the competition of big countries in the short term. On the other hand, public opinion in Britain is worried that its own security will further depend on the United States after Brexit.
The German newspaper Le Monde published a commentary entitled "Britain's fate is still in Europe". The article points out that it will take time to prove whether Britain can fulfill its promise of "staying in Europe to cure all diseases" after leaving the EU. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, believes that the EU is still strong, without which Britain will no longer be a giant. For Britain, "Brexit" is just the beginning. Even after Britain leaves the EU, Britain still can't get rid of the EU, and Europe is still Britain's destiny.
The British "Guardian" said that for many companies, this is the drawback of Britain's withdrawal from the EU, and they are not ready to deal with possible problems in all walks of life. It will only aggravate Britain's discomfort during the epidemic. 65438+1 At the beginning of October,1person in every 50 people in Britain was infected with the virus, and the country was in the third national blockade period. Analysts say that the British economy is heading for a double-dip recession.
(This article was compiled by focusvision)