If the old trade negotiators’ adage is true – that you need to get to a crisis point before anything really starts happening in earnest – then the negotiations between the EU and UK for a post-Brexit trade agreement might just have reached a point where progress can now start …
UK-EU negotiations
Brexit and fish: the threat to UK-EU trade in fisheries products
Few sectors have more at stake in the fraught trade negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union than fisheries. While the media has mostly been focusing on the highly-politicised issue of access to British fishing grounds for EU vessels after the current transition period expires, Brexit also threatens …
UK would accept EU tariffs to avoid ‘level playing field’ commitments – Gove
The United Kingdom would be prepared to accept tariffs on some goods exported to the European Union if it was the only way to avoid having to sign up to so-called ‘level playing field’ commitments on regulatory alignment. In testimony to the House of Lords’ European Union Select Committee, Michael …
Northern Ireland protocol roll-out – what’s at stake
The British government and European Commission finally got down to work last week on the tricky issue of how to administer trade in and out of Northern Ireland once the Brexit process is finalised at the end of this year. Although the Northern Ireland Protocol takes up some 32 pages …
Week Ahead: Food trade, Northern Ireland protocol
By Chris Horseman and Iana Dreyer Food security, durum wheat Brussels trade policy continues on a slow churn as the EU battles to save itself from its single market fragmentation and to upkeep its vital interests on trade – namely keeping foreign and its own market open for vital supplies, …
UK and EU heading for trade deadlock as Barnier castigates ‘unrealistic’ UK stance
The chances of completing a free trade agreement between the EU27 and the United Kingdom by the end of this year – already viewed as very slim – have receded even further following an acrimonious round of negotiations between the two sides this week. In a post-round press conference on …
EU, UK join WTO group pledging fight against food export curbs
The European Union has joined with 23 other World Trade Organization members in pledging not to impose food export bans in response to the crisis in food distribution which the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed in some sectors. The commitment was issued in the form of a WTO joint statement, coordinated …
EU, UK negotiators signal desire to resume talks amid COVID-19 crisis
United Kingdom and European Union negotiators will convene by video next week to re-organise a schedule of meetings to discuss the future relationship between the two sides, as both London and Brussels attempted to present an impression of ‘business almost as usual’ amid the current COVID-19 chaos.
EU urges action on Northern Ireland trade issues – UK faces extension demands
There is “an urgent need” to start detailed work on implementing the procedures governing the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland once the United Kingdom exits the European Union’s customs union next year, European Commission officials said on Monday. In an official statement issued after the first …
Withdrawal Agreement rollout – Northern Ireland trade issues enter centre stage
Amid the flurry of cancelled meetings as the Covid-19 lockdown bites, one key meeting will go ahead next Monday, albeit by videoconference: the inaugural meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee to implement the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
