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On Christmas morning, the 2,000-page, multi-year trade deal negotiated between the EU and the UK reached the Foreign Office.
– It is a process in which you must first see the main characteristics and then examine the rest. This is important work that we have little time to analyze, says Hallberg before pointing out what he thinks is positive: that there is now an agreement with a cooperation free of tariffs and quotas.
Britain is a of Sweden’s most important trading partners and about 66,000 jobs in Sweden are available as a result of exports to the country, according to the Confederation of Swedish Companies. Swedish companies have raised concerns about what a Brexit would look like, and over the past year, trade between the countries has doubled compared to the rest of the EU. Aside from the effects of the pandemic, Hallberg believes it was all about the uncertainty about Brexit.
– The most negative thing for companies and the business community is uncertainty.
An uncertainty that he now believes should disappear. But even though the agreement includes cooperation free of tariffs and quotas, Hallberg warns there will be changes.
– You can’t sit back and think that it will be like always. They are exiting the domestic market, he says.
Hallberg adds that Most large companies that are used to trading with a third country are well prepared for it, but at the same time express concern for smaller companies.
– I don’t want to extend it in the long term. But in the short term, I want to lift a finger of warning for those who have not prepared. They have to do that now from Monday to Friday.
Hallberg says that he would have preferred not to have seen any Brexit, but that it is very gratifying that they are now at the finish line and that you now have to move on.
– I think that after getting used to this, we can develop our relationships. We now have a platform, says Anna Hallberg.
Read more:
Pia Gripenberg: Some stumbling blocks remain before the agreement can be implemented
Löfven: With a Brexit deal, we are much better equipped
Nicola Sturgeon: No deal can make up for Brexit
