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Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has said that the latest outstanding issues in the talks on a trade deal between the UK and the European Union are proving “very, very difficult”.
“The outstanding issues around fair competition and fisheries, and indeed governance in relation to the level playing field issue, are proving to be very, very difficult issues to move on, to tell the truth,” he said.
But the incentive to reach a deal was also “very, very strong” given how hugely disruptive the expiration of Britain’s transition period to the EU would be without a deal, he added.
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Meanwhile, British companies are rushing to stock products just five weeks before post-Brexit customs checks take effect on January 1, driving up the cost of cross-border deliveries and reducing capacity, sources at the LA said. industry.
Logistics companies say they have seen an increase in demand to bring goods into the country ahead of any possible disruption in January, and customs agents report being overwhelmed by pleas for help from traders navigating new rules for first time.
“We have told our customers that the best they can do now is stock up, accumulate and they are putting in whatever they can,” Jon Swallow, director of Jordon Freight, told Reuters of the changing dynamics in the past two weeks.
“The consequence of that is that there is simply not enough capacity and prices are skyrocketing.”
Swallow said the surge in demand had raised prices by around 20% in recent weeks and would likely rise further in December.
Freight specialist Tony Shally said his Espace Europe had seen the cost of travel between Poland and England, and France and England, increase by more than 10%.
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