Life After British Exit (Essay Sample)

Life After British Exit

Introduction
On June 23, 2016, the British people went to the polls to vote in a referendum to leave the European Union (EU). That day, the British people voted 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent in favor of leaving the EU, marking a watershed moment in British and European history. Following that historic vote, the governments of the United Kingdom and Europe are left to pick up the pieces, both seeking guidance on how the UK's exit from the European Union will affect both parties (Dhingra et al., 2016). While the United Kingdom has yet to officially leave the Union, a referendum has been held, and their departure is seen as unavoidable at this point. As a result, much speculation has centered on whether the United Kingdom will pursue a "hard Brexit" or a "soft Brexit." In any case, the unexpected Brexit vote has left the government and the country with many unanswered questions.
Background
The UK government will have notified the European Council and EU leaders of its formal intention to leave the EU once it has issued its formal decision to leave the EU under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Indeed, once the UK has declared its intention to leave. Article 50 establishes a two-year window for the EU and the UK to renegotiate a new legal framework for trade and commerce between the two parties, though Article 80 allows for at least one extension (www.ons.gov.uk., 2016). In any case, such discussions will need to include a framework for the import and export of goods between the United Kingdom and continental Europe, as well as the legal basis for continuing services to and from the European Union. Furthermore, negotiations will need to include passport controls for business travelers between the two territories, as well as customs procedures for incoming passengers and travelers. Finally, both parties will be responsible for developing new safety, health, and environmental standards. In the end, Brexit will result in significant changes for both the European Union and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, given the magnitude of change that Brexit will bring, there will undoubtedly be a great deal of uncertainty.
While the fall in the British pound has received the most attention, the question of whether new trade deals will need to be signed to reflect this new paradigm is at the top of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and Great Britain's departure from the EU. As previously stated, this will be the case, and several British goods and services will be impacted as a result of this new agreement. Indeed, the scope and breadth of this report will look at two of these items.
British chocolate has a long history of trade disputes and the like in the case of trade between the UK and continental Europe. It wasn't until the year 2000 that the debate over British chocolate was resolved, and only after the British agreed to the name "Family chocolate" for European exports of British chocolate (Capelli and Klaus, 2011). In contrast, British beef exports have experienced ups and downs. This included a global ban on British beef exports imposed by the European Union in 1996 because of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic, also known as mad cow disease. Indeed, the EU did not begin to lift its ban on UK beef imports until 2006. Nonetheless, the damage had already been done, and British beef imports have struggled to reclaim market share from foreign producers who had penetrated European beef markets in the years following the ban.