If Mini and Rolls-Royce parts are caught up in delays, 8,000 jobs could be at at risk
BMW has said it will be forced to close its production sites in the UK, putting 8,000 jobs at risk, if components for Mini and Rolls-Royce cars are caught up in customs delays after Brexit.
In its starkest warning over Brexit yet, the customs manager of the German carmaker’s UK operations said its manufacturing set-up would not be able to cope with obstructions to its supply chain.
A customs union is an agreement by a group of countries, such as the EU, to all apply the same tariffs on imported goods from the rest of the world and, typically, eliminate them entirely for trade within the group. By doing this, they can help avoid the need for costly and time-consuming customs checks during trade between members of the union. Asian shipping containers arriving at Felixstowe or Rotterdam, for example, need only pass through customs once before their contents head to markets all over Europe. Lorries passing between Dover and Calais avoid delay entirely.
Related: Foreign businesses to UK: solve Brexit or risk £100bn in trade
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