The Brexit trade talks enter the final step with no final weeks left for the deal

LONDON – With just a few weeks to go before a possible deal is approved, the UK and the EU are “in the final stages of negotiating” a post-Brexit trade deal, according to Britain’s foreign secretary.

The UK ceased to be a member of the EU in January, but agreed to abide by European rules by the end of 2020 so that both sides could formulate a new trade arrangement. However, with stalled negotiations on three similar issues since the spring, this has proved to be a difficult task.

“I think this is a very significant week, the last real major week,” Dominic Rabe told the BBC on Sunday.

Both sides need to reach a new trade arrangement and amend it in their respective parliaments before the end of the year. Failure to do so could lead to a bargaining chip – high costs and barriers for exporters on both sides.

According to Rab, success is based on overcoming differences on a “very narrow” number of issues. The main sticking points are about phishing, competition policy and the rule of any future deal. They have differing views on how much European fishing crew should have access to UK waters and what kind of market competition rules should be applied to avoid a crisis in the EU’s single market.

On Monday morning, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coweni said fishing was a more difficult issue than competition rules.

Without an agreement on fishing, “the whole thing could fall on its back,” he said, emphasizing the importance of the subject throughout the negotiation process.

“Quotas and admissions – it’s all set in Brussels and of course the UK government has said we’ve left the EU… and we want to be able to regain control of our waters,” Georgina Wright, the agency’s senior researcher for the government, told CNBC on Monday. “Squawk Europe x Europe” said.

He added that “if a deal is to happen, it has to happen very soon and that’s because businesses need to be prepared, so fishermen on both sides need to know what and what is going to happen on the first day of January.”

European Union chief negotiator Michelle Barnier told reporters in London on Sunday: “Let’s work, let’s work,” according to Sky News regarding the prospect of a deal.

Before arriving in London for further talks, Barnier said on Friday that “this is the only significant difference that remains.”

Earlier last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “these are crucial days in the process”, but he could not say for sure whether a deal would be struck. The message has been more positive in London since then.

“It’s too late, but the deal is still possible,” UK chief negotiator David Frost said on Friday.

The European official, who did not want to be named because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations, told CNBC over the weekend that a success was based on a phone call between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Von der Leyen.

However, there is no plan for a call between the two yet.

Meanwhile, businesses on both sides await the end of the process. The British chambers of commerce, a trade body for businesses, warned in late September that there would be “big gaps” in government guidance for companies if the deal did not happen.

As a member of the EU for over 40 years, many UK exporters rely on raw materials or consumers based in Europe and vice versa.

In the event that the UK and the EU do not reach an agreement, car manufacturers stop cars and parts if the tariff does not hit. Brands like Volkswagen and Honda have large manufacturing plants in the UK and then export them to the rest of the EU.