Brexit trade talks: Digest of business-focussed articles from national and international media, selected by George Hamilton. Some may require a subscription to obtain the full version (paywall).
The flashpoints that could derail the trade talks..
- ..and how chlorinated chicken might be the ultimate dealbreaker
- New NI Secretary Brandon Lewis “doesn’t understand ‘Irish Sea border'”
- UK and EU could walk if “red lines” of either are breached
EU ‘red lines’ – five flashpoints that threaten negotiations with UK
The European Union has agreed its mandate for talks on its future relationship with the UK, setting out “red lines” for negotiations which open in Brussels next Monday.
It sets out a series of principles at odds with statements made by Boris Johnson and his chief EU negotiator, David Frost, about the UK’s desire to fully “take back control” on January 1.
Implementation of Northern Ireland Protocol: The EU mandate notes that any EU-UK trade deal is premised on the “effective implementation” of those protocols – but there are already concerns in Brussels that the UK will backslide on the creation of the customs border.
As EU ministers agreed the mandate, Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister, warned that the prospects of being able to reach “even a bare-bones trade agreement” by December would be significantly damaged if the UK failed to get on with building the necessary infrastructure.
The ‘level playing field’: On trade, the EU says it is aiming for a deal that creates a free trade area with no tariffs or “quantitative restrictions” limiting the amount of goods that can enter the EU single market tariff free.
But that comes with a major caveat. The EU will only offer a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal “provided that a level playing field is ensured”, meaning British companies cannot undercut European companies unfairly.
Agricultural rules: A new EU demand, added at the request of France, is that the “level playing field” should include “product sanitary quality in the agricultural and food sector”.
This is where food standards become part of the “level playing field” discussion, focusing the choices for the UK in its forthcoming negotiations with the United States.
In short, the EU is using its relative size to try to stop the UK from embracing US standards, even though Mr Johnson has said British policy would be “governed by science and not by mumbo-jumbo”.
Fishing rights: Brexit will turn the UK into an independent coastal state and remove it from the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, leading to promises from UK ministers that British fishermen will get “hundreds of thousands of tonnes” more fish to catch.
But the EU mandate – toughened by member states with fishing interests – says any deal must uphold EU fishing activities, including access to UK waters and quota shares, unless both sides agree to change them. Both sides cannot be right.
At the same time, the EU says it wants a deal on fish to be concluded by July 1 as a condition of a trade deal, putting the two sides on a collision course.
Dispute resolution: The mandate posits an “overall governance mechanism” that will sit above the multiple strands of the future relationship – from trade to defence, security and all other aspects – and enable both sides to take quick retaliatory measures against each other.
This is emphatically not the vision set out by the UK, which is looking for a series of separate agreements that will not enable the EU to take “cross-cutting” actions. This will be a major philosophical row when the negotiations open. Daily Telegraph 25 Feb
Barnier pours scorn on Johnson’s spokesman ahead of trade talks
Negotiations over Britain’s future relationship with the EU appear on course for an acrimonious start after Michel Barnier poured scorn on Boris Johnson’s spokesman and suggested the new Northern Ireland secretary did not understand the withdrawal agreement.
In an impassioned press conference during which he repeatedly banged on his lectern for emphasis, Barnier said the UK’s implementation of the agreement for avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland was a prerequisite for any trade deal.Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, had claimed over the weekend there would be no border of any sort in the Irish Sea and promised “unfettered” trade after the UK leaves the single market and customs union at the end of the year.
“I think there are reasons for us to remain vigilant because the British minister in charge of Northern Ireland has come up with some very surprising statements,” Barnier said, noting the need for infrastructure to be erected for the necessary checks on goods.
“I would like him to take some time to read through the withdrawal agreement in some detail and he will see that commitments have been entered into by both parties to resolve what I call the squaring of the circle.”
Earlier in the day, the Guardian had revealed that the EU is also demanding the UK maintains a ban on chlorinated chicken as the price for a trade agreement with Brussels, in a move that protects European meat exports and creates an obstacle to a deal with Donald Trump. Guardian 25 Feb
https://www.theguardian.com/
Brexit trade talks: No 10 and Brussels exchange barbs before negotiations open
Britain and the European Union both warned today that they would walk away from Brexit trade talks on a future trade deal if their negotiating red lines are breached.
Ahead of formal talks next week, Downing Street accused Brussels of being prepared to sign free trade deals with other countries while trying to bind the UK into unreasonable European rules.
In Brussels, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted such “level playing field” provisions were a prerequisite to any Brexit trade talks agreement.
“We will not conclude negotiations at any cost,” he said. “The trade agreement will be associated with fisheries and a level playing field, or there won’t be any agreement at all.” The Times 25 Feb
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/
