The UK and EU reached little progress in working out a post-Brexit free trade deal, with the chief negotiators pointing accusatory fingers at each other. Without one, trade chaos may ensue next year.
The UK has refused to commit to a level playing field for trade and compromise on access for European fisheries, Brussel’s point man for talks on a deal, Michel Barnier, said on Thursday after the latest round was concluded. Under the circumstances, the possibility of an agreement is “unlikely,” he said.
“The time for answers is quickly running out,” he warned. “If we do not reach an agreement on our future partnership, there will be more friction.”
His British counterpart, David Frost, released a statement saying his country should “face the possibility” that no deal will be reached in time, but expressed hope that a breakthrough may yet come in August or September.
He said Brussels has failed to recognize British principles, which “are not simple negotiating positions but expressions of the reality that we will be a fully independent country at the end of the transition period.”
Britain left the EU at the end of January after 47 years of membership. During the transition period, which will last until the end of the year and which Britain has formally refused to extend, a new agreement on trade needs to be sealed. London wants a deal similar to the one the EU has with Canada, but Brussels insists Britain’s close proximity to the continent needs to be taken into account.
There are two major stumbling blocks in the talks. One is failure to agree on ‘level playing field’ rules, which are meant prevent businesses in one part of the common market from gaining an unfair advantage over those in other parts through things like more relaxed safety standards or government subsidies. The other is Britain’s desire to keep European fishing boats away from its coastline waters and thus allow its own fisheries to catch more.
If a new deal is not signed, starting next year, trade between the EU and UK will be conducted under the rules applied to members of the World Trade Organization. The complexity of the ties accumulated over the decades when Britain was part of the European bloc means that the change may cause significant chaos for businesses on both sides. There is also a high likelihood that the sides will impose quotas and tariffs on their bilateral trade for market protection.
Neither seems to be willing to compromise even as the deadline looms and the rhetoric becomes increasingly strongly-worded. The parties have “only a few weeks left” and “we should not waste it,” Barnier warned, adding that the EU “will not accept to foot the bill for the UK’s political choices.”
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