UK and EU agree deal to remove Brexit checks on food and animal products
Real-world example for IB, A-Level, AP and IGCSE Economics essays: Tariffs and protectionism, Supply, demand and prices, Exchange rates
What happened
The UK and the EU have completed a deal to remove Brexit checks on imports and exports of food and animal products, including sausages, cheese, leather goods and flowers, expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2028.
The economics
Post-Brexit border checks act as a non-tariff barrier to trade: they raise import costs and slow customs clearance, working like a tax on trade and reducing the volume exchanged. Removing them lowers trade costs, shifting the supply curve for these goods to the right so prices fall and quantities traded rise, illustrating reduced protectionism and gains from freer trade.
Evaluation
The deal only takes effect in 2028, so trade costs are unchanged in the short run; removing checks also raises food-safety and animal-health concerns, so there is a trade-off between trade facilitation and regulation, with consumers and exporters as the main gainers.
Practice question
Using a supply and demand diagram, analyse the effect of removing UK–EU border checks on food and animal products on the market price and quantity traded.
Where it fits in the syllabus
- Tariffs and protectionism: Tariffs, quotas and similar barriers that shield domestic producers, at the cost of higher prices and possible retaliation.
- Supply, demand and prices: How a change in demand or supply in one market moves its equilibrium price and quantity.
- Exchange rates: The price of one currency in another; appreciation or depreciation changes exports, imports and inflation.
- IB Economics: International Trade, Demand, Supply and Elasticity, Exchange Rates and Balance of Payments
- A-Level Economics: International Economics, Supply and Demand
- AP Macroeconomics: Open Economy: International Trade and Finance
- AP Microeconomics: Supply, Demand and Market Equilibrium
- IGCSE Economics: International Trade and Globalisation, Demand and Supply