The Washington Post online:
Jeremy Corbyn urges a soft Brexit, putting Theresa May in a hard spot
26 February 2018
The problem for hard-line Brexiteers is that the European customs union dictates that all trade deals between the bloc and the outside world be negotiated by the European Union, not the individual member states. “There’s no bilateral trade deals in a customs union” — no Germany-China deals or Britain-U. S. deals. “If you’re in, you’re in,” said Thomas Sampson, an expert in international trade at the London School of Economics.