Brexit: Carney rejects Boris Johnson's no-deal trade claim

[Denzil_DC]

The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, has said that the UK would be hit automatically by tariffs on exports to the EU in a no-deal Brexit, rejecting a claim made by Boris Johnson that this could be avoided.

Tory leadership candidate Johnson said this week that tariffs would not necessarily have to be paid if the UK left the EU without a deal because the UK could rely on article 24 of the general agreement on tariffs and trade (Gatt).

Some Brexit supporters have claimed that the Gatt, a treaty under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO), would allow a “standstill” in which tariffs are avoided, even in the absence of any agreement on trade.

Many trade experts say this is not the case without agreement from both sides. Carney cited the head of the WTO and Liam Fox, the minister for international trade who backed the Vote Leave campaign in 2016, to contradict Johnson.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/21/brexit-mark-carney-dismisses-boris-johnson-trade-claim-on-no-deal

I don't suppose it'll make any difference to the Brexit/WTO mythologists among Johnson's base, but let's hope that his many wild and woolly claims aren't going to go unchallenged before he's anointed.