Trade deals after Brexit: In each of the Customs Union of pitfalls are stuck

What are the trade pacts are the best for great Britain after an exit from the EU? The "Norwegian solution" is no longer in the conversation. A new proposal: the model "Zollverein".

Wolfgang Landmesser, WDR

Norway is the largest member of the European free trade area EFTA, and could thus become a "life-raft" for the United Kingdom: With this idea of the Labour MP Stephen Kinnock burst last November in the high boiling Brexit debate.

in There, it is just for the Deal, the Prime Minister, Theresa May, with the EU, which had already been negotiated. Also, the Tory MP Nick Boles called "Norway Plus" as an Alternative to in the contract with the EU, provided for the transition phase. The UK could temporarily join the EFTA, to the country have negotiated a permanent agreement with the EU, so his proposal.

EFTA alone would not bring the UK but a lot, says Gabriel Feldenmayr, President of the Kiel Institute for the world economy (IfW).

The EFTA, alongside Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. EFTA alone would not bring the UK but a lot, says Gabriel Felbermayr, the new President of the Kiel Institute for the world economy (IfW). Because the structure of the world's fifth largest economy, is fundamentally different from the Norwegian. So there is in EFTA, special rules for Norway's major fishing. The British economic model is, however, of the banking and financial sector dominated - and EFTA this is hardly the right club for the British.

the Norwegians themselves are not enthusiastic about the idea, to have the United Kingdom sit at the table. The small EFTA Association represents, so far, 16 million people, with the UK 66 million would be about four times the number of inhabitants. The country would dominate the free-trade zone is clear and the structures to blow up. So, the EFTA court could cope with the additional work through future disputes.

more sense for the UK membership in the European economic area (EEA), would be a trade expert, Felbermayr says. Because only then the country could continue to take advantage of all the benefits of the European single market and its financial services throughout the EU. On the other hand, the British would have to live with it, to the single market rules do not have a say.

This is also a Problem for Norway, which is also a member of the EEA. The dependence of EU decisions was a recurring theme in the Norwegian policy. But so far, the country has accepted this disadvantage, because it can sell its products anywhere in the EU free of customs duties. Whether the proud to be the UK could be the long like, is doubtful.

Therefore, proposed by Felbermayr and some of his colleagues, a new Brexit-model: a customs Union between the EU and the UK. The idea: the United Kingdom and the EU member States would work together with the classic exchange of goods, so the trade in cars, chemicals or food. In these areas, there would be no tariffs and no other trade restrictions, for example due to different product standards. And the British would sit at the table, if the EU concludes new trade agreements - for example, with the United States.