U.K. Took £12.6 Billion Brexit Hit on Trade in October

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. trade in goods took a 12.6 billion pound ($16.7 billion) hit from Brexit in October as imports and exports fell behind equivalent countries.

The Center of European Reform said Brexit had lowered goods traded by the U.K. by 15.7% from where it otherwise would have been. The “cost of Brexit” has hovered between 11% and 16% since the U.K. formally left the European Union’s single market and customs union in January.

EU membership was replaced by a tariff-free trade deal but requires border checks and paperwork on standards and rules of origin, which has become a severe impediment for Britain’s exporting and importing companies.

The CER has created a “doppelganger U.K.” made up of countries that closely whose trade and economic performance closely tracked Britain up to December 2019, before the pandemic struck.

The data includes goods trade, GDP growth, population, inflation and industrial production as a share of output. It draws from countries including the U.S., Germany, Greece, New Zealand and Sweden.

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