New trading relationships with Europe have seen a “remarkable” decline in the number of buyer-seller relationships between UK and EU companies, new research has revealed.
According to findings from the LSE Centre for Economic Performance reported in the FT there has been a “steep decline” in the number of trading relationships Britain has with the bloc as a result of red tape at the border.
The research found that smaller firms have been particularly impacted as they are the ones who are unlikely to have the money, time or logistical capacity to navigate new frameworks.
Since the new trade agreement came into force, the number of buyer-seller relationships between the UK and the EU fell by nearly one-third, with the vast majority of those being shed in the first quarter, researchers say.
A sudden drop in the number of products being sold was most pronounced in trade between British businesses and their counterparts in smaller EU countries.
Thomas Prayer, a co-author of the paper who is a doctoral student at the University of Cambridge, said the decline was “remarkable”. He added: “It appears the UK simply stopped selling a lot of products to smaller countries in the EU.”
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