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This week’s reporting in Ireland about the possible shape of the UK food tariff regime in no deal has understandably focused on what it could mean for the Irish beef sector. But there are also implications for the border.
Assume the speculation is right that the UK slashes tariffs on citrus fruit (no domestic producer to support). There’s now an angle for an entrepreneur to legally import tariff free oranges into Belfast & then drive them across the border.
Our citrus fruit entrepreneur can now turn a profit by exploiting the tariff differential on the two parts of the island. If he’s ambitious maybe he wants to move his smuggled fruit further into the EU.
If I’m a Spanish orange grower I’m asking Ireland what they’re doing to stop this? OK, market surveillance should pick up sudden massive shipments of oranges out of Dublin but the key point remains....
Where there’s divergence, in tariffs or standards, it tends to increase the pressure for hardening the border.
