'Get Brexit done' rings hollow for baffled British businesses

In any event, many businesses would find adapting to a new a free-trade agreement just as troublesome as if the UK left without a deal, said Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.

“It would still create a lot more trade friction and cost than currently exists,” Lowe said, citing the need for companies to grapple with issues such as rules of origin paperwork, customs and security declarations, and other import and export formalities. “No matter how ambitious the deal is, there are known limits to how much it can do to liberalize trade.”