How international regulatory cooperation can ease a ‘hard’ Brexit

Many observers viewed Theresa May’s speech on 17 January as a sign that the UK is heading for a so called ‘hard Brexit’ after leaving the EU. But what is the most likely outcome of the upcoming Brexit negotiations and how can the UK minimise any negative economic consequences? Robert Basedow argues that a ‘hard’ Brexit is unlikely to happen from a trade perspective, but suggests that a key priority should be to prevent non-tariff barriers developing between the EU and the UK through the use of international regulatory cooperation.