EU - why do we need trade agreement with it instead of agreements with individual cou

justme111

I may miss something - we seem to trade with countries that are not in the EU ok ( USA , China and so on). Why are politicians and media talk about agreement with the EU as an entity as the only possible solution? Why not to arrange agreements with individual eu countries?

wotsthat

Maybe you should've thought about the answer to this question before voting leave.

International trade was one of the first sectors in which EU Member States agreed to pool their sovereignty. As a consequence, they mandated the Commission with responsibility for handling trade matters, including negotiating international trade agreements on their behalf. In other words the EU, acting as a single entity, negotiates, on behalf of all its Member States, both bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_6.2.1.html

stator

Because I shouldn't think they are allowed to. The EU single market is quite protective. They don't want one country signing a free trade deal and then tonnes of goods being shipped through that country to all other member states for free.

HiToAll

wotsthat wrote: »

Maybe you should've thought about the answer to this question before voting leave.



http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_6.2.1.html

Why would leave voters do a silly think like that. Take back control.

Generali

HiToAll wrote: »

Why would leave voters do a silly think like that. Take back control.

What's the plan? What comes next?

The idiots won so what now?

System

wotsthat wrote: »

Maybe you should've thought about the answer to this question before voting leave.

I actually just laughed and then put my head in my hands.

I'm still at a loss as to how this has been allowed to happen.

CLAPTON

wotsthat wrote: »

Maybe you should've thought about the answer to this question before voting leave.



http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_6.2.1.html

so will now be allowed to set our own tariff and non tariff barriers to trade
we could e.g. allow tariff free trade now if we so wished.

wotsthat

CLAPTON wrote: »

so will now be allowed to set our own tariff and non tariff barriers to trade
we could e.g. allow tariff free trade now if we so wished.

Would, could and wishing isn't a plan but yes.

We won't be negotiating with individual EU countries because the Commission negotiates on behalf of them all as a single entity. Maybe I'm over-labouring the point that some leave voters didn't think this through.

CLAPTON

wotsthat wrote: »

Would, could and wishing isn't a plan but yes.

We won't be negotiating with individual EU countries because the Commission negotiates on behalf of them all as a single entity. Maybe I'm over-labouring the point that some leave voters didn't think this through.

we can trade with individual EU countries without any 'deal'

You are very astute to notice that we didn't have a 'leave' government in power before the vote, and that the civil service etc did not draw up 'leave' plans.

a shocking failure of the 'remain' government but that is where we are.

Aliliva

I may miss something - we seem to trade with countries that are not in the EU ok ( USA , China and so on).

UK is currently trading fine with those countries because of the trade agreement between the EU (of which UK is still part) and the third parties countries. In simple words, for the sake of trading, the EU behaves like one single country.

Following the Brexit, the UK will have to:
- Sign up a deal with the EU
- Sign up deals with the rest of the world (some other 100s countries) or trade with them under the WTO rules

So, nothing impossible to do, just time and money consuming. And, from my personal point of view, the earlier they start the better, to put an end to the market uncertainties

justme111

Something does not add up. All the countries in the world that EU trades with do not have agreement of free movement with the EU. How come Britain would be required to have it?
Could someone quote the source of information stating no country which is in the EU is allowed to have trade deals with any other country individually as it is hard to believe.