Can We Go Global Now?

One of the good arguments that Nigel Farage used to put forward before the Brexit campaign was that by leaving the EU we could trade on the world stage unencumbered by the EU strait jacket.  It was a good line for him to take because it enabled him to portray himself as the outward looking internationalist fighting against parochial local interests.  I didn't hear it being deployed much during the campaign itself.  The Farage approach was to bring the debate onto immigration - which doesn't really mix well with enhancing internationalism.

But I see from a debate between Nigel Farage and Tim Farron that he has gone back to it.  

Of course, if he is right on this one then Brexit may well be a desirable thing after all.  Britain relies heavily on trade.  If Brexit means more trade then that means higher living standards which might well make up for a lot of the inconvenience of leaving the EU.  The question is, is he right?

It is rather hard to see how he could be.  For a start, we trade pretty well across the globe already.   And EU membership doesn't seem to do Germany or France any harm.  They are both big exporters of all sorts of things in all sorts of places.  So if the EU does put up barriers to trade then we need a bit more detail about what exactly they are.  In fact, that would be the first place to start.  After all, we are members of the EU and if there are problems then the first step shouldn't be leaving.  It should be trying to sort them out.  

Unfortunately there is no detail forthcoming on what these supposed barriers to trade are.  To be completely realistic, there are bound to be some somewhere.   My personal experience of EU regulations doesn't throw up any examples.  But the EU is a big and complicated thing and I don't doubt it is getting in somebody's way somewhere.   In some cases leaving the EU might be the only solution.  But even then, you'd have to balance it against other cases where leaving the EU is clearly going to be harmful.  I can think of quite a few examples of that.

Trade is something that really is too important to be used as a rhetorical trick in a political debate.  I think it is time that we start talking seriously about what exactly Brexit is going to mean for our trade position.  If it really does mean we can start doing more international trade then great.  I want details.