EU Must Avoid `Suicidal` Trade Strategy on Brexit, Hungary Says

by Dramelin 3:00 AM 0 comments

As an EU member, Hungary will have the opportunity to sign off on any final deal.
The European Union must avoid the ?suicidal strategy? of alienating Britain by ensuring that any trade barriers it imposes after Brexit still give the world?s fifth biggest economy better terms than it can get elsewhere around the globe, Hungary?s top diplomat said.
While some governments in the remaining EU nations have urged the bloc to reciprocate Britain?s ?hard exit? from the EU -- meaning a clean break from the EU common market -- with an equally hard bargain, Szijjarto said that may be self-defeating.
?We can?t create a situation where Britain is better off trading with the Americans, Turks, Indians, Australians or Japanese,? Szijjarto said.
?Losing such a partner and giving it away to others would be a suicidal strategy.
?Szijjarto spoke shortly after Britain?s ambassador to Hungary, Iain Lindsay, told a conference in Budapest that his government?s aim was to avoid tariffs of any kind on the trade of goods.