Stupidityvirus epidemic

The EU/UK trade negotiations are beginning to look like what in Swedish is known as snopp fäktning. The British position can be summarised as ‛if you do not stop shooting yourself in the feet, we will start to shoot ourselves in the feet’. Shooting its own people in the feet is standard operating procedure in the EU, which takes care of its powerful and vocal producer interests at the expense of everyone else. The UK government is, on account of its free trade traditions, slightly better in this respect. I wish British commentators, and politicians generally, would, for a change, look at the situation from our (I am on the continent) point of view. From the way so many are talking, anyone would think that we (in the EU) only buy British because we feel sorry for them.

The EU is doing us no favours with its negotiating position of threatening to apply tariffs and restrictions on imports from the UK. Here in Gothenburg there is one shop which specialises in British decorating products including Farrow and Ball, and Little Green. Restrictions will affect both the shop and its customers. There are no equivalent replacement product. Another local shop sells popular UK ceramic tableware brands as a major line. Our local garden shops sell brands like Spear and Jackson. Ditto the tool shop. Microbreweries and home brewing supplier use and stock British hops, malt, yeast and sundries. Fisherman’s Friends are popular. Although most of our fish is locally caught, and quite a lot of it from the Baltic and from lakes (pike, zander and perch), there will be a bit of a shortage of fish and prices will rise. Then there is the general issue of spare parts and consumables. The list goes on and on.

The EU’s negotiators are adopting a position which will make a lot of things scarce or dearer. They are shooting us in the feet. Ireland will be particularly badly hit because 25% of its imports are sourced from the UK and it will cost more to transport alternatives from mainland Europe; it is a long way through the Straits of Dover and round Land's End. The end result will be that the EU, already unpopular for a raft of reasons, will become even more unpopular.

The current UK negotiating position is equally absurd. The ‘threat’ is that the UK will cut itself off from EU suppliers, which from us includes SKF ball bearings made from high quality Swedish steel made from the very pure ore from the Kiruna mine.

There is a financial side to this as well. If the UK is unconditionally open to imports from the EU (and everywhere else), then sterling balances accumulate in the supplier countries, which will boost exports from the UK. It seems to be little appreciated that imports prime the pump for a country's exports by creating foreign held balances in its currency.

The best thing the UK government could do would be to announce that it will just open the doors to imports from the EU (and everywhere else), whatever the EU does. If the EU negotiators are sensible they will follow suit. If they do not, and they probably will not, since being sensible is not their style, there are soon going to be complaints from consumers, businesses and manufacturers in the EU who find their supplies have been cut off by order of Brussels.