, Columnist
Specter of No Brexit Deal Haunts U.K. Automakers
Any trade deal looks better than no deal for Britain's car industry.
Jobs at risk?
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
When U.K. Brexit Secretary David Davis told his cabinet colleagues last week that they should brace for "the unlikely scenario in which no mutually satisfactory agreement" is reached on Brexit, it set off alarm bells in one industry in particular -- and it's not the finance industry.
Britain's automotive industry employs 169,000 workers directly in manufacturing and a total of more than 800,000 workers across the sector, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), an industry lobbying group. The prospect of tariffs both on the 1.3 million cars the U.K. exports each year and on the parts that cross back and forth between the U.K. and the EU is putting those jobs at risk.