WTO sees Brexit costing UK billions in trade tariffs

Geneva

LEAVING the European Union would cost British consumers £9 billion (S$18.3 billion) in annual additional import tariffs, World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo said in an interview published by the Financial Times on Wednesday.

Britain's exports would also be burdened with £5.5 billion of new tariffs in overseas markets, the paper said, and leaving the EU would require a full reboot of Britain's trade relations, akin to joining the WTO from scratch.