U.S. President Barack Obama says a 'Brexit' would put the UK at the 'back of the queue' in trade talks with the U.S.... But Republican candidate Donald Trump says it won't - if he's elected president. That's the confusing position for the UK if it votes to leave the European Union on June 23rd. British businesses could find themselves at a competitive disadvantage if the UK leaves the EU.
The sound of more than a century of British motoring. Morgan cars like these 3-wheelers are individually handcrafted in rural England and sold all over the world, including rural Pennsylvania.
"It's a tremendous amount of fun. You can make a bit of a racket with the wind in your hair. When you put them in a normal car with GPS and all the gadgets it is no escape, it's just humdrum, it's business as usual," said Dennis Frick Morgan cars mid-Atlantic, INC.
UK manufacturers like Morgan are asking themselves if business as usual will resume after this historic referendum.
"It costs around 50 thousand dollars to buy one of these little beauties and bring them into the U.S. On top of that you pay around 2.5 percent import charges. Under the terms of a proposed transatlantic trade deal those import charges would be all but eliminated for European countries. But if the UK leaves the European Union, it won't benefit from this eliminated import charges," said Owen Fairclough, Lewisberry.
A thousand dollars-or-so isn't much for the wealthy clients Morgans are built for. But with 57 billion dollars of British goods exported to the U.S. last year, those import charges would leave the UK at a competitive disadvantage against European rivals. And the U.S. is in no hurry to strike an independent free trade deal with a Britain outside the EU.
"Maybe, some point down the line, there might be a UK - U.S. trade agreement, but it's not going to happen anytime soon because our focus is negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done, and the UK is going to be in the back of the queue," said Barack Obama U.S. President.
At the back and losing money. The British pound has been sinking against the dollar over the prospect of a Brexit-making the UK's short term future even more uncertain. Though, the current exchange rate is beneficial to this dealership.
"When we started doing this in 2011 we were paying $1.65 to $1.69 a pound and it has been lovely to be paying $1.45 a pound?1.42. It would be painful for that to go back up. I do think it is good idea for Great Britain to be part of a larger community," said Lori Van Houten Frick Morgan cars mid-Atlantic, INC.
Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump says if he wins the White House in November, the UK leaving the EU won't be an obstacle to a bilateral trade deal. Leaving this classic car company with more open road.
