Analysis of UK “No Deal” Tariff Schedule in the Context of Cross-Border Trade

Summary of circumstances leading to review

The UK government published in March 2019 a temporary schedule of tariff rates to be applied for up to 12 months in the event of “no deal” exit from the EU. Almost all research up to now assumed a degree of symmetry in the tariffs being applied (i.e. using current EU rates) but the new schedule changes this considerably. Under the new tariff schedule, the UK plans to abolish tariffs entirely for a wide range of products and substantially reduce them for most others. HMRC additionally announced a temporary period where the tariff being faced by exporters from Ireland to Northern Ireland would be set at zero for all goods.

InterTradeIreland commissioned the Economic and Social Research Council to review the implications of the proposed new UK tariff schedule on cross-border trade. Due to the technical nature of the research this has been produced as a working paper with the view of making the data widely available for policy review at the earliest opportunity.