BRUSSELS (AP) – European Union and British negotiators worked to put a final touch on a trade deal tonight and the eve of Christmas, which will avoid a chaotic economic standoff between the two sides next week.
Trade will change when the UK leaves Blockchain’s single market and customs union on January 1, 1, but both sides are working hard to avoid the nightmare, which would cost billions in trade and impose tariffs and hundreds of thousands of jobs and potentially so many jobs. That many goods will struggle to pass through. The possibility was illustrated this week when concerns over coronavirus caused chaos at the short French blockade ports of British trucks that are still being sorted out.
After resolving all remaining sticking points, negotiators hung up hundreds of pages of legal lessons on Thursday that should become a blueprint for post-Brexit relations.
During most of the nine months of negotiations, the issue of EU fishing fleets in British waters proved to be the most complex and controversial, with negotiators still arguing over quotas for some individual species. Were.
However, sources on both sides said the long and difficult negotiations are wrapped up as negotiators, with a stack of pizzas at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, worked to deliver the lesson to their leaders.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coweni said there had been “some kind of last-minute hit” on the fish, but that was not surprising. He said he was announcing deals “later today” from London and Brussels.
It will then seek the unanimous approval of the 27 European Union countries as well as the blessings of the European Union and the British Parliament. It is expected to receive approvals.
Britain’s currency, the pound, rose 0.5% against the dollar on expectations of a deal, reaching just below 1. 1.36.
In the words of the Brexiters campaign slogan – “regaining control” of the UK’s borders and laws – it has been 4/2 years since Britain voted 52% -48% to leave the EU.
It had been more than three years since the British left the bloc’s political structure on January 31. It also took longer to negotiate how to dismantle closely linked economies as part of the EU’s single market for goods and services.
Despite the apparent success, key aspects of the future relationship between the 27-nation group and its former member are uncertain. But it leaves interdependent, often troubled UK-EU relations – and at 75 675 billion (9 918 billion) in its annual trade – on more concrete steps than the disrupted no-deal split.
If a deal is announced, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be able to claim that he promised to win a major election a year ago: “Brexit is over.”
Even with the deal, trade between Britain and the EU will face customs checks and other hurdles on January 1. But the agreement will avoid the more destructive effects of tariffs and duties. Britain withdrew from the EU on 31 January, and the economic transition period will end on 31 December.
Johnson has always insisted that the UK would “prosper” even if no deal was struck and that the UK would have to trade with the EU on WTO terms from January 1.
But his government has acknowledged that the chaotic exit is likely to bring gridlocks to Britain’s ports, a temporary shortage of some goods and an increase in prices for staple food. Tariffs will be imposed on many exports to Europe, including 10% on cars and more than 40% on sheep, as the UK economy tightens as it struggles to recover from the effects of the coronavirus epidemic.
Over the past few days, Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have been increasingly drawn into negotiations, speaking by phone to block months-long negotiations, by the epidemic and by both sides opposing ‘what Brexit contains’.
Rumors of pre-Christmas trade deals have surfaced in recent days based on progress on key remaining issues: fair competition, resolution of future disputes and fishing.
The EU has long feared that Britain would regulate the bloc’s social, environmental and state aid rules in order to enable the European Union to achieve an unjust edge with its exports. Britain has said adhering to EU rules would damage its sovereignty.
Eventually it was settled on “level playing field” issues, so the economically insignificant but heavily symbolic issue of the fish became the final trending issue. Maritime EU nations want access to UK waters where they have long fished, but Britain is insisting it should be controlled as an “independent coastal state”.
On fishing a huge distance between the two sides gradually narrowed until it appeared, pullable.
Johnson’s vast Conservative majority in parliament should ensure that the Brexit trade deal is passed, but any compromise would be criticized by radical Brexit supporters in his party. The party’s Eurosceptic European Research Group said it would “scrutinize any deal carefully to ensure its provisions truly protect the sovereignty of the United Kingdom once it exits the transition period later this year.”
The European Parliament has warned that it is too late to approve the deal before January 1, but the agreement could be put on hold and approved by EU legislators in January.
Businesses on both sides are vying for the deal, which will save billions of dollars.
While failing to secure a trade deal on both sides will cause economic damage, most economists believe Britain will be more affected, as it is smaller and more dependent on trade with the European Union than any other way around.
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Loles report from London.
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