[ti:British Shoemaker Counts Costs of Leaving EU]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]A historic shoe company in Britain is feeling financial pressure
[00:05.68]because of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.
[00:11.68]One hundred ninety-two-year-old Tricker’s
[00:15.44]makes costly shoes and boots that can sell for more than $600.
[00:23.12]The company has sold products to everyone
[00:26.40]from Prince Charles to shoe fans in Japan.
[00:31.28]But, the company director, Martin Mason,
[00:34.68]worries about the new price of doing business with the EU.
[00:41.00]Costs from companies that ship Tricker’s products
[00:44.96]to buyers in the EU are growing.
[00:49.36]These extra costs could reach more than $135,000 a year for the company.
[00:59.08]The trade deal reached in December of last year
[01:02.96]between Britain and the EU avoided costly tariffs.
[01:09.56]But Tricker’s is finding that paying the EU’s value-added tax (VAT)
[01:17.64]has become a lot more complex for direct sales to shoe buyers.
[01:25.28]British exporters must now use different tax rates
[01:29.80]for the European Union’s 27 member states.
[01:35.12]Tricker’s has permitted shipping companies to collect the tax.
[01:41.56]Now, the shippers are seeking extra payments
[01:45.72]for each package sent to the EU
[01:49.28]from the shoe factory in Northampton.
[01:53.88]It is a problem for companies on both sides of the border.
[01:59.76]The process is also causing delays in the arrival of goods.
[02:06.32]Shipments that used to take one day to arrive
[02:10.08]are now taking three or four.
[02:14.04]Also, when the shippers make mistakes,
[02:17.36]it causes more delays and paperwork.
[02:22.04]Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said
[02:25.40]the recent problems with trade are small
[02:29.08]and to be expected under a new system.
[02:33.96]Johnson points to the possibility for export growth
[02:38.48]if Britain gets trade deals with the United States,
[02:42.80]India and other countries.
[02:46.72]Adding to Tricker’s problems are VAT costs
[02:50.84]from shipping companies for shoes
[02:53.56]returned to its base in Northampton.
[02:58.36]Some wholesalers, businesses that sell to other businesses,
[03:03.60]are sending the shoes back.
[03:07.56]So are EU customers in need of shoe repairs.
[03:13.80]The expected Brexit-related costs of about $136,690 a year
[03:23.84]would be equal to almost 10 percent of Tricker’s online sales.
[03:31.28]This in turn represents about 15 percent
[03:35.68]of total profit at Tricker’s, Mason said.
[03:40.60]Brexit refers to Britain officially ending its EU membership,
[03:46.64]a move that took place one year ago.
[03:51.48]The new taxes have led the company to raise prices
[03:56.04]for EU customers and pay the rest of the costs from its profits.
[04:02.96]“I think all companies here in the UK
[04:06.52]are getting extra costs as a result of the deal,” Mason said.
[04:13.40]Mason spoke to Reuters news agency
[04:16.64]from an empty shop floor in the factory.
[04:21.44]Normally, 86 employees would produce 1,000 pairs of shoes a week.
[04:30.84]Last year, during the first stay-at-home orders,
[04:34.92]was the first time they had ever been closed, he said.
[04:40.88]“We’ve been through...world wars, financial crises,
[04:45.48]stock market crashes,” said Mason.
[04:50.08]“Even during the world wars, we were open,
[04:53.52]making boots for the army,” he said.
[04:58.40]Dealing with Brexit and the coronavirus combined
[05:02.68]has made things much harder.
[05:06.36]“We will get through it. It will be tough," he said.
[05:11.84]British government budget experts say the country’s economy
[05:17.00]could be about four percent smaller under Brexit in 15 years’ time.
[05:24.36]However, Mason said Brexit has led
[05:28.48]to a few good possibilities for his company,
[05:32.08]which exports about 85 percent of its shoes.
[05:38.44]An agreement with Japan would be a help
[05:41.96]and an agreement with the United States might lower import tariffs.
[05:48.44]Japanese customers make up more than 30 percent of Tricker’s business.
[05:55.80]About 15 percent comes from the EU.
[06:00.68]But for now, Mason’s immediate need is to deal with the VAT issues.
[06:08.00]He said he hopes that common sense wins
[06:12.00]and that the problems of getting products into Europe will be solved.
[06:18.32]“It is a bit of a barrier to recovery” after COVID, he said.
[06:24.16]“But... if wise heads get together and solve some of these issues,
[06:30.12]then hopefully it will become easier.”
[06:33.76]I’m Alice Bryant. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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