There are practical ways to retain our share of the benefits of the EU’s existing arrangements for trade with other countries.
There are some risks to trade, but they should be rationalised and addressed rather than overhyped.
Hammering out a “Son of CAP” has its challenges, but they are more technical than political – and can be resolved.
The absence of a trade agreement with the EU should not concern us – there are swift, practical ways to overcome possible issues.
The absence of tariffs comes last, not first. They are the end-point of a successful negotiation, not its starting-point. They are the icing on the cake.
Unless either the UK or the EU want a trade war, its most likely consequence would be making use of a mass of small deals to achieve sizeable gains.
A joint response to our series on WTO by a former Director-General of that organisation and a former Australian Ambassador to it – via Policy Exchange.