The United Kingdom and the European Union only have a few weeks before the “transition period” ends and the post-Brexit world begins. What is the status of negotiations?
Summary
As an end-of-year deadline approaches for new trade rules after Britain’s exiting the European Union, negotiations are said be in its “last leg” according to the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
- The face-to-face negotiations resumed Saturday, with reports saying EU officials have begun pressing their negotiator to reach a conclusion with the British.
- The largest remaining sticking points appear to be over U.K. fishing rights, “state aid”, and establishing a process to arbitrate future disputes.
- Raab has said the right to coastal waters control and fish stocks is essential for an agreement with the EU.
- While the U.K. officially left the EU earlier this year, a transition period for trade and economic regulations was set to expire mid-November until an extension was granted for the end of 2020.
- The impending deadlines and new relationship between Britain and the EU are leaving London-based banks fearing their status as global financial leaders.
- Reports from the left are casting doubt on Britain’s economic future in a post-Brexit world, saying the lasting effects of Brexit would be worse than the coronavirus pandemic.
- CNN Business details the negative impact Brexit may have on unemployment and the U.K.’s GDP.
- In The Guardian’s opinion pages, Post-Brexit Britain will require a New Deal-style emphasis on public works projects to help boost what the author believes is an inevitable rise in unemployment.
- The Wall Street Journal writes about the challenges a new relationship, or even a “no-deal Brexit”, will have on the transportation and logistics industry, saying “the U.K. faces a logistics nightmare” beginning in 2021.
- At least one conservative outlet in the U.K. raised cautious optimism about the status of Brexit talks, while also reporting on accusation of the EU “moving the goalposts” during negotiations.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2020
