Daily Management Review

Britain Could Abandon Brexit Trade Talks, Says Prime Minister Boris Johnson


12/08/2020




Britain Could Abandon Brexit Trade Talks, Says Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Just a day after agreeing to meet the head of the European Commission in what is being described to be a last minute effort to strike a Brexit trade deal with the European Union, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that the trade talks could be abandoned by his country.
 
Johnson is slated to hold a meeting over the Brexit deal with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the coming days after negotiators from the two sides could not reach an agreement, even as there is just a time period of about three weeks before Britain finally completes its departure from the bloc.
 
Since the talks faltered again, both the sides have been talking hard as with the situation being described as “very tricky” by Johnson describing the situation as “very tricky” while the EU’s negotiator said that there was complete unity in the bloc about the trade agreement and that the bloc would “never sacrifice our future for the present”.
 
Call of a comprise by the other have been given by both the parties so that a deal could be achieved and both the sides apparently also view the meeting as the last chance for them to allow political leaders to find a way to clos down the gap preventing a deal.
 
An agreement had been reached by them regarding arrangements on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border, ministers said which is being seen a sign of some movement in parallel talks related to implementation of an earlier deal on the terms of Britain’s exit in contrast to the the terms of future trade.
 
Clauses in legislation that were in breach of the exit treaty signed in January will consequently now be removed by the United Kingdom, it said.
 
Three issues have held up the two parties from coming to an agreement despite multiple rounds of negotiations since Britain left the EU in January. However currently, the situation is one that has been described as their nightmare scenario by businesses as there could potentially be no agreement on rules governing annual trade worth about $1 trillion.
 
“Yeah of course”, Johnson told reporters when he was asked whether he would try until the last possible moment to do a deal on trade. “We’re always hopeful but you know there may come a moment when we have to acknowledge that it’s time to draw stumps and that’s just the way it is,” said Johnson, using a cricketing term for the end of play.
 
 “We will prosper mightily under any version and if we have to go for an Australian solution then that’s fine too,” he added. There is no trade agreement between the EU and Australia which means that the majority of bilateral trade is based on the rules and terms of the World Trade Organization.
 
“Full unity. We will never sacrifice our future for the present. Access to our market comes with conditions”, said EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Twitter sounding equally combative.
 
(Source:www.reuters.com)