‘Same nightmare week after week’: UK firms fed up with post-Brexit EU trade
-Exporters fear Northern Ireland protocol row will spur trade war with Brussels, making an already difficult job even harder

“一周接一周的噩夢”：英國公司受夠了脫歐后的歐盟貿(mào)易
——出口商擔(dān)心，北愛爾蘭協(xié)定爭端將引發(fā)與布魯塞爾的貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)，使本已困難的業(yè)務(wù)更加困難


(Mark Brearley of Kaymet, a manufacturer of tea trolleys, trays and hotplates, says leaving the EU has increased his costs and made selling goods abroad more difficult.)

（Kaymet公司的馬克·布雷爾利是茶具臺、托盤和烤盤的制造商，他說，脫歐增加了他的成本，使他的產(chǎn)品銷往海外更加困難了。）
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Mark Brearley is still frustrated by Brexit. More than a year from Britain’s formal withdrawal from the EU, on terms agreed by Boris Johnson’s government, exporting the goods his company produces hasn’t got any easier for the London-based manufacturer.

馬克·布雷爾利仍對英國脫歐感到沮喪。英國根據(jù)鮑里斯·約翰遜政府同意的條款正式退出歐盟已經(jīng)一年多了，但對這家總部位于倫敦的制造商來說，出口其公司生產(chǎn)的產(chǎn)品并沒有變得更容易。

Describing it as “the same nightmare week after week”, he says: “A lot more time is spent with things going wrong. The EU really feels like the hardest place in the world to ship things to sometimes.”

他將其描述為“一周接一周的噩夢”，并表示：“更多的時間花在了事情搞砸上。有時候，歐盟真的感覺是世界上最難賣出貨物的地方?！?/b>

For the past seven decades the company Brearley runs, Kaymet, has made and sold tea trolleys, trays and hotplates from its factory just off the Old Kent Road to customers including the British royal family. It’s thought that Kaymet’s wares were used by the queen – celebrating her platinum jubilee this week – on her coronation world tour. The company sells goods in 40 countries across the world.

在過去的70年里，布雷爾利經(jīng)營的公司Kaymet從老肯特路附近的工廠生產(chǎn)茶具臺、托盤和烤盤，并向包括英國王室在內(nèi)的客戶銷售。人們認(rèn)為Kaymet的產(chǎn)品曾是女王（她在本周要慶祝她的鉑金紀(jì)念日）在她的加冕世界之旅中使用的。該公司的產(chǎn)品銷往全球40個國家。

But leaving the EU has added to Brearley’s costs and makes selling items abroad more difficult. “There’s loads of things I could’ve been doing if it wasn’t for these problems. We could do things that take us forward, rather than back,” he says.

但脫離歐盟增加了布雷爾利的成本，并使產(chǎn)品銷往海外更加困難?！叭绻皇沁@些問題，我可以做很多事情。我們本可以做一些讓我們前進的事情，而不是倒退，”他說。

Official figures show that UK exports to the EU remain significantly below pre-Brexit levels, despite some recovery from an initial plunge in January 2021 at the end of the transition period. Exports had fallen 40% on the month as traders adapted to new red tape and border delays, but came back to finish last year down 11% compared with 2018 – the year used by the Office for National Statistics as the most reliable comparison, before Brexit stockpiling and the Covid pandemic influenced trade flows.

官方數(shù)據(jù)顯示，英國對歐盟的出口仍明顯低于英國脫歐前的水平，盡管從2021年1月過渡期結(jié)束時的最初大幅下降中有所復(fù)蘇。當(dāng)月出口下降了40%，但由于貿(mào)易商適應(yīng)了新的繁瑣手續(xù)和邊境延誤，與2018年相比，去年結(jié)束時出口下降回升到了11%——英國國家統(tǒng)計局將英國脫歐儲備和新冠疫情影響貿(mào)易流之前的這一年作為最可靠的比較年份。

However, concern is mounting that fresh Brexit roadblocks are looming as the government threatens to tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol, which covers trade between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Despite Boris Johnson claiming to have “got Brexit done”, his government now views this central plank of his deal as broken.

然而，越來越多的人擔(dān)心，隨著政府威脅撕毀涵蓋英國、北愛爾蘭和愛爾蘭之間貿(mào)易的《北愛爾蘭協(xié)議》，新的脫歐路障正在逼近。盡管鮑里斯·約翰遜宣稱“完成了脫歐”，但他的政府現(xiàn)在認(rèn)為他的協(xié)議的這一核心條款已經(jīng)失效。

“There’s a sense of, ‘Oh God, here we go again,”’ says Brearley, who worries that Kaymet will suffer if the EU responds with fresh trade barriers.

布雷爾利說：“有一種‘哦，上帝，我們又要來一遍’的感覺。”他擔(dān)心，如果歐盟以新的貿(mào)易壁壘作為回應(yīng)，Kaymet將遭受損失。

Raoul Ruparel, who was Theresa May’s special adviser on Europe during the first round of Brexit negotiations, says companies could start dusting down their old no-deal Brexit plans if the situation worsens.

在英國脫歐第一輪談判中擔(dān)任特蕾莎·梅歐洲問題特別顧問的拉烏爾·魯帕雷爾表示，如果形勢惡化，企業(yè)可能會開始重新制定它們之前的無協(xié)議脫歐計劃。

“Any business will tell you it’s unhelpful,” he says. “In this case, a lot of them are just getting on with it and they just have to make the best of it. But what they don’t want is constantly changing trade rules with the UK and the EU.”

他說：“任何企業(yè)都會告訴你，這沒有幫助。在這種情況下，很多企業(yè)只是在繼續(xù)，它們只是要充分利用它。但它們不想要的是不斷改變與英國和歐盟的貿(mào)易規(guī)則?！?/b>
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Despite business concerns of retaliation from Brussels, the government has insisted that pushing ahead is the right thing to do. “The UK’s solution to fix the problems with the protocol and protect the Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement will cut costs for businesses, remove unnecessary paperwork and protect UK and EU markets,” a spokesperson said.

盡管商界擔(dān)心布魯塞爾的報復(fù)，但政府堅稱，推進改革是正確的做法。一位發(fā)言人表示：“英國解決協(xié)議問題、保護《貝爾法斯特（耶穌受難日）協(xié)議》的方案，將削減企業(yè)成本，消除不必要的手續(xù)，并保護英國和歐盟市場?！?/b>

There could, however, be economic costs. Steffan Ball, the former chair of Philip Hammond’s council of advisers when he was chancellor, and now chief UK economist at Goldman Sachs, says the most likely outcome is a “compromise deal”. Still, risks of “significant economic impacts” loom if one isn’t reached, he warns.

然而，這可能會有經(jīng)濟代價。菲利普·哈蒙德?lián)呜斦蟪紩r的顧問委員會主席、現(xiàn)任高盛首席英國經(jīng)濟學(xué)家斯特凡·鮑爾表示，最有可能的結(jié)果是達成一項“妥協(xié)協(xié)議”。不過，他警告說，如果不這樣做，“重大經(jīng)濟影響”的風(fēng)險就會逼近。

“Back in 2020, the Office for Budget Responsibility [OBR] estimated that a ‘no-deal’ Brexit would reduce the level of real GDP by an additional 2% in the long run. In addition, the escalation in tensions raises the prospect of a trade war, with potential tariffs imposed on exports to the EU,” he says. “But this outcome is very unlikely in our view.”

他說：“早在2020年，預(yù)算責(zé)任辦公室估計，從長遠來看，‘無協(xié)議’脫歐將使實際GDP水平額外下降2%。此外，緊張局勢的升級增加了貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)的可能性，可能會對出口到歐盟的產(chǎn)品征收關(guān)稅。但在我們看來，出現(xiàn)這種結(jié)果的可能性很小。”

Even with the current deal, the OBR – the Treasury’s economics forecaster – expects Brexit to cost the economy 4% of GDP over 15 years, double the long-term impact of the scarring from the Covid pandemic.

即使有目前的協(xié)議，英國財政部的經(jīng)濟預(yù)測機構(gòu)預(yù)算責(zé)任辦公室預(yù)計，英國脫歐將在15年內(nèi)使經(jīng)濟損失占GDP的4%，是新冠肺炎疫情造成的長期影響的兩倍。
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Trade figures suggest UK exporters are already feeling the pinch. According to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, which tracks trends in global trade, goods exports in March from advanced economies – including the UK, US, Japan and euro area – were 2% above the monthly average for 2018, after adjusting for inflation. In the UK, however, real exports were almost 22% down in the same month.

貿(mào)易數(shù)據(jù)顯示，英國出口商已經(jīng)感受到壓力。根據(jù)跟蹤全球貿(mào)易趨勢的荷蘭經(jīng)濟政策分析局的數(shù)據(jù)，3月份，包括英國、美國、日本和歐元區(qū)在內(nèi)的發(fā)達經(jīng)濟體的商品出口，經(jīng)通脹調(diào)整后，比2018年的月平均水平高出2%。然而，在英國，當(dāng)月的實際出口下降了近22%。

Some sectors have suffered a more dramatic hit than others. Exports of clothing and footwear to the EU are both down by almost 60% compared with 2018. Meat exports have plunged by almost 25%, vegetables and fruit by 40%, while car exports are down by more than a quarter.

一些行業(yè)受到的沖擊比其他行業(yè)更嚴(yán)重。與2018年相比，對歐盟的服裝和鞋類出口都下降了近60%。肉類出口下降了近25%，蔬菜和水果下降了40%，而汽車出口下降了超過四分之一。

Paul Alger, director of international affairs at the UK Fashion and Textile Association, says the outsize hit for his industry is probably because many of the items sold by UK firms do not qualify for the post-Brexit trade deal. Under its terms, goods must meet “rule of origin” requirements, which require a certain proportion of an item to be domestically produced to benefit from tariff-free access. However, much of the clothing sold by UK retailers is made in Asia or the US, making it ineligible.

英國時裝與紡織協(xié)會國際事務(wù)主管保羅·阿爾杰表示，該行業(yè)遭受的巨大打擊可能是因為英國企業(yè)出售的許多商品不符合英國脫歐后的貿(mào)易協(xié)議。根據(jù)其條款，商品必須符合“原產(chǎn)地規(guī)則”的要求，該要求要求一種商品的一定比例是國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)的，才能享受免征關(guān)稅的待遇。然而，英國零售商銷售的大部分服裝都是在亞洲或美國生產(chǎn)的，因此不符合資格。

“They’re also finding that customs are very difficult in some countries. Particularly around labelling,” said Alger. “A lot of companies will say we didn’t realise how good a deal we had for moving goods from the UK to the EU until we actually left.”

“他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)，一些國家的習(xí)慣非常難以滿足。尤其是在標(biāo)簽方面，”阿爾杰說?！昂芏喙緯f，直到我們真的離開歐盟，我們才意識到我們把貨物從英國賣往歐盟是一筆多么‘好’的交易。”

In one example of shifting trade patterns, Marks & Spencer is setting up a warehouse to handle EU deliveries of clothing and homewares to reduce the impact of tariffs and export costs. The British high street stalwart said last week that Brexit had cost it ￡29.6m in profits and ￡15m in lost trade.

在貿(mào)易模式轉(zhuǎn)變的一個例子中，瑪莎百貨正在建立一個倉庫，處理發(fā)往歐盟的服裝和家居用品，以減少關(guān)稅和出口成本的影響。這家英國商業(yè)街的中堅企業(yè)上周表示，英國脫歐令其損失了2960萬英鎊的利潤和1500萬英鎊的貿(mào)易損失。

Danny Hodgson runs Rivet & Hide, which sells quality men’s clothing from stores in London and Manchester as well as online. He says EU sales, which he spent a decade building, plunged by half in the first month after Brexit and never recovered.

丹尼·霍奇森經(jīng)營著“Rivet & Hide”，在倫敦和曼徹斯特的商店以及網(wǎng)上銷售優(yōu)質(zhì)男裝。他說，他花了十年時間打造的歐盟銷售額在英國脫歐后的第一個月就下降了一半，并且再也沒有恢復(fù)。
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“It’s really frustrating,” he says. Rivet & Hide has pushed up prices for EU customers to include new tariffs, VAT and shipping costs.

“這真是令人沮喪，”他說。Rivet & Hide已經(jīng)提高了歐盟客戶的價格，包括新的關(guān)稅、增值稅和運輸成本。

“I hear Johnson boasting about free trade and all the rest of it. I don’t know how he’s got the brass neck to talk about us doing free trade when basically he’s the one who’s imposed sanctions on our business. “We were freely trading with the EU and now we’ve had tariffs imposed on us through our Brexit deals.”

“我聽到約翰遜吹噓自由貿(mào)易和其他所有的事情。我不知道他怎么能厚顏無恥地談?wù)撐覀冞M行自由貿(mào)易，而實際上是他對我們的生意施加了制裁。我們曾與歐盟自由貿(mào)易，現(xiàn)在卻因為脫歐協(xié)議而被征收關(guān)稅?！?/b>
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With Britain’s economy facing the risk of recession amid the cost of living crisis, Hodgson says the government has caused harm to the British economy that could have easily been avoided.

霍奇森說，由于生活成本危機，英國經(jīng)濟面臨衰退的風(fēng)險，政府對英國經(jīng)濟造成的這些傷害本可以輕易避免。

“We’re less profitable, there’s a lot more work involved, there’s a lot more hassle, but I’m still slogging away at it in the hope one day things improve,” he says. “But if there was a trade war, it would finish that off.”

他表示：“我們的盈利能力下降了，涉及的工作更多了，麻煩也更多了，但我仍在努力，希望有一天情況會有所改善。但如果發(fā)生貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)，一切都完蛋了?！?br />