Brexit red tape reality dawns on firms bracing for origin burden

Negotiators may propose that Britain joins an agreement it has with several other nearby countries, including Turkey, Switzerland and Norway, known as the PEM convention, where inputs are recognized as local between all the parties, according to Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. Joining would address some of the concerns of UK businesses, Lowe said.“The dream scenario is that the EU accepts the UK’s proposal, but that seems unlikely,” he said. “The UK does have a legitimate issue: it’s going to be quite difficult to sell an FTA, or even to make compromises to achieve an FTA, if zero-tariff trade is not going to be available to lots of its exporters.”