The UK will be in a less favorable situation to strike new trade deals after leaving the European Union (EU), a prominent think tank has warned, drawing a gloomy future for the post-Brexit Britain under “almost all scenarios.”
The RAND Corporation, a US-based non-profit group, made the prediction in a report on Tuesday, which measured percentage and monetary changes in GDP growth, GDP per capita, trade and foreign direct investment for the UK, the EU and the US under eight different trade scenarios.
According to the research, abiding by World Trade Organization’s rules after the divorce would push the UK further away from EU standards, significantly harming British businesses’ ability to trade with the bloc in the long run.
In case of a “hard Brexit,” a possibility that UK Prime Minister Theresa May has not ruled out, a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU would lead to a net decline of 1.9 percent in Britain’s GDP 10…