FRANKFURT - It was hard to ignore the sense of foreboding when a group of German executives logged into a remote meeting on Tuesday .
While an accord can still happen, companies are getting ready for what many now consider their base-case scenario, stocking up warehouses and dusting off contingency plans they hoped they'd never need. Arla Foods, northern Europe's biggest dairy producer, is getting anxious it will be on the hook for 100 million euros of losses should a trade deal remain elusive. Executives at the Danish company pressed the country's foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, at a meeting in Copenhagen on Sept 15 to redouble efforts to get an agreement done.
No nation has more at stake than Germany, Europe's biggest exporter. The UK bought almost US$85 billion of goods from Germany last year, more than from any other country in the world. Some 460,000 jobs in Europe's largest economy depend on exports to the UK, according to Germany's IAB labor market research institute.
The European auto industry would lose about 110 billion euros in trade through 2025 in case of a no-deal Brexit, two dozen of the region's auto industry groups said last week. The damage would come on top of about 100 billion euros of production lost this year when the coronavirus shuttered factories and showrooms, they said in a joint statement.
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Source: The Straits Times - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »