Germany: Brexit pushed exports to UK down 2.5% last year

BERLIN (AP) — Official figures show that German exports to the U.K. dropped another 2.5% last year, the first full year of Brexit, following a huge decline in 2020 in the first stage of the coronavirus pandemic. Preliminary figures Friday from the Federal Statistical Office showed that exports from Germany, which has Europe’s biggest economy, totaled 65.4 billion euros ($73.1 billion) in 2021. It said that the drop — which followed a 15.3% drop in 2020 — was a result of Brexit. Britain left the European Union’s single market and customs union on Dec. 31, 2020, 11 months after it had formally left the bloc’s political structures.