Well, well, well...

 

So, the EU has just reached an agreement with UK on how they will deal with each other post-BRexit.  According to Deutsche Welle:

"The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was the result of nine long months of negotiations and set up a relationship of zero tariffs and zero quotas on goods traded between the EU and UK." 

If this sounds like the EU is going to treat UK as if they were still part of the team, then you and I read this the same way.

And why wouldn't they?  Trade is how wealth is acquired.  If you have a pie and I have five dollars and we trade those, you now have five dollars that you value above having a pie, and I have a pie that I value above those five dollars.  We both gained in that transaction.  Wait... what?

Yes, unless governments get in the way to impose taxes and tariffs, trade — that is 'free trade' — always results in profits to the traders.  Taxes and tariffs steal some or all of that profit (or more) and funnel it to the government so it can be wasted on things you normally wouldn't spend your own money for.  People who cheered Trump's tariff policy will by now be scratching their heads: "What in tarnation is he talking about?"

The EU seems to have decided that trading with UK (and making profit from trading with UK) is a better idea than cutting off trade with a country that has Chunnel access to the Continent, and is even better than taxing their own citizens to impel them to reject UK produce (that, until a few months ago, was all perfectly fine).  One wonders what sort of drug they're on that induces such common sense?  Perhaps we can get prescriptions for our own U.S. politicians?  Would they take the medicine?  Forget it, Jake, it's D.C.