![\"UK](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2201663172.jpg\")
\n\t\tIn MetroTalk: One reader says it\u2019s time to admit Brexit was a mistake and call another vote \u2013 but another insists the UK economy has held up just fine outside the EU. (Picture: Carl Court \u2013 Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tIn MetroTalk: One reader says it\u2019s time to admit Brexit was a mistake and call another vote \u2013 but another insists the UK economy has held up just fine outside the EU. (Picture: Carl Court \u2013 Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Do you agree with our readers?\u00a0Have your say on these\u00a0MetroTalk<\/a>\u00a0topics and more in the comments.<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t\t\tIs it time to rethink Brexit? \t\t\t<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear Trump doesn\u2019t want to have the \u2018special relationship<\/a>\u2019 previous US presidents had with our country.<\/p>\n This only highlights the mistake we made by leaving the EU. There is strength in being united and, like it or not, we are part of Europe, so perhaps now is the time to call another referendum<\/a> on the issue.<\/p>\n I\u2019m positive the outcome would be different as hopefully we have learned from our mistake of 2016. Barry Stanton, Folkestone<\/strong><\/p>\n Brexit bad for the UK? Maybe not\u2026<\/p>\n Joe and Charles (MetroTalk, Tue<\/a>) scorn my observation that by leaving the EU, we have avoided the 20 per cent tariff that Trump has imposed on EU goods, calling our independence \u2018self-harm\u2019.<\/p>\n According to Briefings For Britain, leaving the EU has had remarkably little impact on our economy<\/a>. Among the major advanced economies, the UK has had one of the faster rates of growth of total GDP since the referendum and sits comfortably in mid-table on growth in GDP per head. UK exports to the EU have recovered to long-term trend levels and the City of London<\/a> has been only mildly impacted.<\/p>\n Since June 2016 and up until the end of the second quarter of 2022, OECD data shows the cumulative growth rate of real GDP in Italy was four per cent, in Germany<\/a> it was 5.5, the UK 6.8 and in France 7.6.<\/p>\n Claims that UK investment has been very weak since 2016, based on extrapolating from 2009-2016, are misleading as this period featured a strong rebound in investment from the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n In fact, it is still close to its long-run trend and some of the gap is due to the collapse of investment in North Sea oil and gas. Foreign direct investment into the UK has held up well since 2016 in contrast to predictions that it would slump post-Brexit. Will Podmore, London<\/strong><\/p>\n Penguins feeling the pinch<\/p>\n \t\t It looks as if the tariffs have already had an impact that Donald Trump placed on the Heard and McDonald islands, which are uninhabited save for penguins<\/a>. I bought a pack and they appear to have shrunk by about 20 per cent\u2026 Doug, Witham<\/strong><\/p>\n America the disruptor, then and now <\/p>\n As Christopher Columbus found five centuries ago, there\u2019s nothing quite like America at getting in the way and disrupting trade between Europe and Asia\u2026 John, Manchester<\/strong><\/p>\n Universal Studios in the wrong postcode<\/p>\n![\"King](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-635827022_b160a2.jpg\")
\n\t\tHeard Island\u2019s penguin population doesn\u2019t seem to have a trade relationship with the US (Photo by: Inger Vandyke \/VW PICS\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n