Britain exits from the European Union today. It leaves what is by far the world’s most important community of sovereign states, with an economy roughly the same size as America’s, to adjust to the loss of one of its key member-nations – one that is both a major economy and a nuclear-armed military power.
It now seems almost certain that Brexit will happen on the last day of this month. What happens afterwards? Britain will no longer be a member of the European Union, but in terms of the Brexit agreement it will remain within its customs union, temporarily, just as if it’s still a member of the EU. That’s to allow time to negotiate a new trade relationship between the UK and Europe.