Trade wars

Trade is always  vulnerable to politics. Today we see a US/China  trade dispute on a grand scale, as the US responds to the growing strategic and military challenge of the emerging superpower. Pakistan  and India are in bitter dispute over Kashmir with threats to the trade from both sides of their troubled border. Japan and Korea have dismantled their framework if mutual trade preference and are imposing barriers on some items. Many developing countries charge high tariffs on imports with special dispensations from WTO rules to allow this. The US has  imposed sanctions on Iran which the EU has in effect to go along with. The UK refuses to sell various countries weapons and security machinery. Most advanced countries place security restrictions on the sale of certain technology products and services.

Despite these common problems the bulk if our trade in or out of the  EU will be tariff free with relatively easy passage across borders.