BoE boss dismisses claim on ‘standstill’ Brexit trade

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney yesterday dismissed Boris Johnson’s claims that there would be a “standstill” trade arrangement, in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Johnson, who is leading the race to become Britain’s next prime minister, had argued this week that current arrangements would continue after Brexit, citing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) article 24 of the World Trade Organisation treaty.

“There will be no tariffs, there will be no quotas because what we want to do is to get a standstill in our current arrangements under GATT 24, or whatever it happens to be, until such a time as we have negotiated” a free trade agreement, Johnson had said in a televised debate on Tuesday. However, Carney flatly denied that this would be the case in an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Friday. “The GATT rules are clear.

GATT applies if you have an agreement, not if you have decided not to have an agreement or have been unable to come to an agreement,” Carney said. The BoE chief added that, if the EU wanted not to apply tariffs to British goods, then it would have to lower tariffs also to the rest of the world. “We should be clear that not having an agreement with the EU means there are tariffs automatically because the EU have to apply the same rules to us as they apply to everyone else,” Carney continued.

“We should be clear that ‘no deal’ means ‘no deal’ -- it means there is a substantial change in the trading relationship with the EU. “That may be the choice that the country takes but it should be a choice that is taken with absolute clarity in terms of what that means.”