Is this entirely true? Isn't the UK now trading with Europe at World Trade Organization tariffs? Or was a better deal made? The EU has trading agreements with a significant part of the world. See this map for example: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2020/december/tradoc_.... If the UK is now trading at WTO rules they would be worse off than all those countries that have an agreement. Eyeballing that chart about 50% of the world would have an easier route to trade with the EU than the UK.