FILE PHOTO: The EU flag is placed on broken glass and the British flag in this illustrated image taken on January 31, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration / File Photo
(Reuters) – Britain and the European Union will not be able to sign a post-Brexit trade deal, just days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s July deadline, The Telegraph reported.
The UK government’s assumption is that there will be no agreement, although it is still possible that a “basic” agreement could be reached if the EU gives up ground in the fall, the newspaper said, citing government sources.
The government hopes it will trade with Europe on the terms of the World Trade Organization when the transition period ends, the report added.
Britain left the EU on January 31, and its relationship with the bloc is now governed by a transition agreement that keeps the previous rules in place while the two sides negotiate new terms.
Negotiators remain bogged down in fishing rights, the governance of the deal, the role of the European Court of Justice and so-called equal conditions guarantees, the newspaper reported.
Britain is seeking trade deals with other countries and is establishing its own sanctions regime, and has previously insisted that it should not have to subscribe to the bloc’s standards.
A Johnson spokesman said Monday that Britain will continue to collaborate constructively with the EU in talks on a future relationship, but that London is unwilling to give up its rights as an independent state.
Reports from Aakriti Bhalla in Bangalore; Edition by Sandra Maler and Marguerita Choy
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