AS U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May struggles to secure a Brexit deal her parliament can accept, business leaders in Germany’s heartland are moving ahead with preparations to pass the pain on to British customers.

In the picturesque northern town of Lueneburg, several dozen executives packed into a 470-year-old former brewery this week for an in-depth briefing on how to brace for Brexit. The gathering was the latest of more than 150 such events to help businesses get ready for the fifth-largest importer of German goods quitting the EU.

In addition to the briefings, which have been attended by more than 10,000 people, Germany’s chambers of industry and commerce set up a checklist so that firms can prepare for the change in the U.K.’s status. With or without a deal, German businesses aren’t planning to foot the bill.

“Our company didn’t cause Brexit, so why should we suffer for it,” Axel Kiehne, sales manager at Dr. Kaiser Diamantwerkzeuge GmbH & Co. KG — a maker of machine tools for high-precision grinding — said at the event. “It might sound harsh, but the costs should be borne by the British companies.”

Kiehne’s attitude isn’t isolated. The local chamber of commerce, which includes the region around Volkswagen AG’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, lists price adjustments as one of its top five Brexit tips, because of the increased expense of exporting to the U.K. due to potential customs duties. Another executive for a food exporter at the event worried that tariffs could wipe out profit margins and destroy its business in the U.K. (SD-Agencies)