BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Britain would become a competitor after Brexit and that its exit from the European Union would see it losing out.
Merkel told a news conference that she felt the competition would be strongest in areas such as research, tax policy and digitalisation, rather than foreign policy. She warned that Britain's departure from the EU single market would come at a cost.
"Great Britain will of course lose out somewhat. Easy access to the internal market, being part of the internal market, is a tremendous advantage," Merkel told reporters.
"Whether the economic chains will remain so deeply integrated in the future will depend on how our trade agreement looks... and how similar our standards are," she continued.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Editing by Gabriela Baczynska)
