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The EU was unwilling to give Britain a trade deal similar to Canada’s. Now Boris Johnson casts doubt on whether there will be an agreement.
Boris Johnson says the UK is willing to remain without a trade deal with the EU.
Downing Street / PA Wire
Published:,
– Unless something fundamental changes, we opt for a solution similar to the one Australia has. We should do so with great confidence, says Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, in a television interview on Friday afternoon.
The UK had tried to reach a trade agreement with the EU similar to the one with Canada. They did not succeed.
“It seems strange that after 45 years, they can offer Canada better conditions than us,” says Johnson.
The Australian solution is also known as “Hard Brexit” and means that the trading partners do not have any trade agreements. Canada, on the other hand, has a trade agreement with the EU since 2017.
Negotiators from the UK and the EU could not agree on the deadline they had set for October 15. Now it seems that the negotiations have stalled.
– The summit seemed to exclude an agreement similar to the one Canada has. So we must be ready to stand with no deal on January 1, Johnson says.
They both say they are willing
– We don’t leave the negotiating table. We say: come here, come to us, if something fundamental changes in the EU’s approach, we are open to negotiate, says Johnson.
The EU has expressed the same willingness to negotiate, without the two parties having reached an agreement so far.
– We are here and available until the last possible day, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday at a press conference after the deadline for negotiations expired.
The two parties, according to Bloomberg, will meet again later this afternoon.
The president of the European Commission also tweets that negotiations will continue
– Our negotiating team will travel to London next week, says on Twitter.
The transition period between the UK and the EU lasts until the end of the year. During that period, there have been no major changes since the UK was still a member.
Without a trade agreement, the EU and the UK will automatically switch to trade rules determined through the WTO. This can quickly mean increased tariffs and more difficult trade between the two.
According to an analysis by Bloomberg Economics, the UK will lose around NOK 3.6 trillion if it is left without a deal with the EU. This corresponds to about 1.5 percent of GDP.
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