Colin P said:
Those impacts are also going to happen on the EU side as well as millions of customers disappear, something the EU can ill afford as well. My guess they EU will let UK suffer for 6 months and then be forced by their own to open negotiations on various small deals, to limit impacts on areas previously serving the UK.
I think there will definitely be some areas impacted by Brexit, but in their case it's mostly a question of doing the paperwork and planning for delays, with the customers paying the costs. Sure the EU plans include some subsidization and assistance for the new processes.
On the flip side they are also picking up a lot of the jobs that flee the UK, so other sectors (particularly banking) are benefiting hugely, so overall probably a bit of a wash for the EU.
For perspective though, the EU is losing probably 5% of it's tariff free markets, once you include the deals they've done with Canada, Japan, etc. The UK will have zero trade deals once they leave, so every single thing they import/export will have custom requirements. The EU will probably will be happy for it to be done so they can get on with a lot of the other stuff that has been put to the side for the last few years, but even if they start working on something right away, that will take years to figure out (especially with the lingering divorce bill issue).
They have an overall trade deficit of about $38B, and the pound has dropped ~20% since the Brexit vote. So all the stuff they bring in will cost more, and there will suddenly be tariffs, limits and even full restrictions on almost half of their exports (as they go to the EU). Not to be doom and gloom, but there is really no way to paint that as rosy.
Their politicians have also done a pretty good job at behaving like world class arseholes to all their neighbours, so it's not like there will be a lot of sympathy and offers to help.