By Vanessa Zainzinger2021-01-14T15:32:00+00:00
The post-Brexit EU–UK trade and cooperation agreement, agreed on 24 December, brought some clarity at last for the chemical industry but questions and concerns remain as the sector comes to grips with the new rules.
In a first reaction to the deal, businesses on both sides of the English Channel breathed a sigh of relief that potentially damaging tariffs have been avoided. ‘Failure here would have seen an annual cost of at least £1 billion to the chemical industry,’ said Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association (CIA).
The German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) said the agreement ‘prevented the worst’ and laid the foundation for ‘a future close cooperation’ between the two parties.