UK's trade costs of leaving EU very high

The "Brexiteers" - those who want Britain to leave the European Union - argue that their goal would be virtually cost-free and have no effect on the United Kingdom's global trade. They are wrong.

Start with the basics. Leaving the EU means that the UK would exit the EU's Customs Union, which is the basis for cross-border free trade among the EU's 28 members. It also means exit from the Single Market - the basis for the free movement of goods and services among EU members. By definition, non-members of the EU cannot belong to the Single Market.

So what would happen next? During the two-year period before Britain's withdrawal takes final effect, there would be UK-EU negotiations on many points - sovereignty, the legal order, immigration, finances and economic matters. The assumption is that a crucial goal for Britain would be to negotiate a trading relationship as close as possible to the free-trade relationships that exist today.