In an interview at BNR Nieuwsradio on Friday 30 November 2018, Professor Casper de Vries, holder of the Witteveen Chair of Monetary Economics at Erasmus School of Economics, gives his opinion on the trade war between the United States and China and the Brexit. According to Professor Casper de Vries, the costs of the Brexit are large for the Netherlands, especially for the fishing and transport industry.
Regardless of the deal the UK and the EU will make, the Brexit will result in problems at the border. Since trade and export are of great significance for the Dutch economy, this will have a large negative effect on the economy of the Netherlands. Trade is driven by comparative advantages. If one country is better at producing a certain good than the other, imposing a trade barrier, which obliges the less efficient country to produce the good itself, will lead to large efficiency problems in the economy. This is true for the Netherlands, but even to a larger extent for the UK itself. Nobody benefits, but it nevertheless is going through. At the time of the referendum, the citizens of the UK had no idea at all about the consequences the Brexit would have. British Prime Ministers, since Margaret Thatcher, have proclaimed that all British problems originate at the European mainland and the citizens started to believe this. This is the result of that.
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- More information
Listen to the entire podcast on BNR Nieuwsradio d.d. 30 November 2018
- Related links
- Dossier: Brexit