If UK exports to the EU move to WTO tariffs after leaving the EU, Honda’s UK plant may be in jeopardy, according to a statement from the company in submission to a UK Parliamentary committee.
Unless a deal, or transitional deal, is done on trade arrangements between the UK and the EU, WTO rules on tariffs would mean that could be imposed on UK exports to the EU customs area. In the case of news cars, the common external tariff (CET) imposed by the EU is 10%.
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Honda said in a submission to the UK parliament’s business committee that a “10 percent tariff would make our vehicles uncompetitive, and would impose costs we cannot afford to absorb.”
The UK government is currently in negotiations with the EU over the terms of the UK’s exit from the bloc, which is scheduled for March 2019.
UK government ministers are seeking to do a trade deal with the EU that would maintain free trade with the EU. However, the EU has maintained that it will not talk about future trade arrangements until an agreement is reached over the UK’s terms of exit (and a financial settlement is a particular sticking point).
See also: Honda pleads for UK to stay in EU customs union post-Brexit
Other submissions from UK auto industry on Brexit to the UK parliamentary committee
