What does Britain actually export?

[allegretto]

I thought that our main revenue came now from service industries/the financial sector these days. As these (especially the latter) are going to be severely cut back when we are not in the EU. What actually is our trade going to be?

[allegretto]

Nobody? We can't survive on a GDP based entirely on Kendal Mint Cake and Marmite.

[Pendu]

Well we export a lot of grain/crops and stuff ....?

I have forgotten the figures however

[Pendu]

I climbed mount Snowdon once on kendel mint cake and prayer so that the revenue from that should keep us afloat for a while no doubt ....

[christmasmum]

atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/gbr/ This is quite useful if you're interested in exports/imports.

[NickiFury]

Luxury cars according to a Top Gear episode I once watched and that's about all I know, which is shameful really.

[allegretto]

Interesting christmasmum! Although our second most important destination for exports is Germany.....

[LaurieFairyCake]

80% financial services

[TanTanNubuck]

Have you read the OP, LaurieFairyCake ?

[allegretto]

Laurie - the success of the financial sector depends on us being in EU. The job cuts in banking have already started.

[Corcory]

Whisky, Beef, Lamb, shell fish, electronics, aeronautics, jet engines, and leisure boats are a few I can think of.

[SunnyL]

I export expertise. We need to be a member of the EU to get the types of contracts that allow me to sell British experts onto projects.

[AnyFucker]

Skills, brains and expertise

Even more so now

[LaurieFairyCake]

Oh how weird, the first post didn't come up

Sorry, we're currently 80% financial services. If that reduces (and I expect it to) then it's likely to result in quite a lot of migration with skills going overseas.

There was quite a brain drain in the 70s and early 80s - I expect that to happen again

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Financial instability, social division, and a boost to the far right?

[lljkk]

Of the 20% that isn't fin. services, there's a lot of other services & intellectual property, software & films, not tangible goods. Whiskey & beef are in there somewhere (tiny %).

[lljkk]

oh crap and GUNS. And other arms. That is kind of important. We make & sell lots of killing devices.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Yeah, we sell arms to people who want to kill us

Ffs

[WhirlwindHugs]

Weapons exports is pretty big - but would be hit by a brain drain though. Not enough engineers.
We export a fair bit of design. Products designed here but manufactured somewhere else. These could be hit by visa /travel issues and differences in legislation between countries.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Interesting link, Christmasmum - and especially revealing that our largest EU trading partners all export far more to us than we buy from them

So does anyone still think they'll turn their backs on us, and risk all those jobs in their own countries??

[purits]

Can someone explain: Germany and France export to America, Asia and Africa. How is that possible without free movement of people!!!????

[allegretto]

I don't think they'll turn their backs on us. We'll negotiate a trade deal. Do you really think that after all this crap that deal will be on BETTER terms than we had before?

[LunaLoveg00d]

Lots of whisky. Seafood and fish from Scotland is regularly sent to continental Europe. Computer games - Grand Theft Auto is made here. Textiles.

[LunaLoveg00d]

Can someone explain: Germany and France export to America, Asia and Africa. How is that possible without free movement of people!!!????

I don't understand why you'd think it wouldn't be possible, tbh. However if you buy things from the USA or Asia there will be tariffs to pay which makes them more expensive. If as a consumer in the UK, you order a swanky new designer sofa from the USA, you pay 20% VAT on the purchase price and import duty when it arrives at UK customs. If you buy the same swanky sofa from Denmark or Greece, you don't pay import duty or VAT as we are in the same Common Market area.

After Brexit, if we cannot negotiate trade terms with the rest of the EU - which will probably involve agreeing to freedom of movement - then we are in the position of the US swanky sofa maker. A consumer in Germany would still be able to buy from us, but it would cost them a lot more than it would to buy similar goods from France or Italy.

[PattyPenguin]

*purist" there's nothing to stop anyone exporting anything to anyone else.

However, some two countries or blocs agree not to charge customs duties or tariffs on goods traded between them. So in the case of the EU, as members, when the UK and Germany or France export or import goods or services between them, there are no duties to pay.

But when Germany and France export to, say, America, tariffs are charged on the goods.

There are also matters of standards, but I won't go into that just now.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Do you really think that after all this crap that deal will be on BETTER terms than we had before?

Hard to know until negotiations start, but while I appreciate there'll be a lot of huffing and puffing about "those lousy Brits", I don't expect that to translate into something which might damage their own exports

Given the net contribution we make to the EU in addition to the trade imbalance, some might even say they have more to lose than we do ...