JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

UK to press for Canada-style trade deal with EU when talks start in March

UK to press for Canada-style trade deal with EU when talks start in March

Sunday, February 23, 2020, 11:11 GMT+7
UK to press for Canada-style trade deal with EU when talks start in March
European Union's Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (not pictured) hold a joint news conference in Luxembourg, February 10, 2020. Photo: Reuters

LONDON -- Britain will underline its desire for a Canada-style trade deal with the EU when formal talks start next month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street office said on Saturday.

Ministers will meet on Tuesday to sign off on the formal trade mandate document which will frame Britain’s negotiating aims, before it is published on Thursday.

“The UK has made clear a number of times, and will reiterate, its desire for a Canada-style deal,” Downing Street said in a statement.

The EU-Canada deal, which came into force provisionally in 2017, removes most tariffs on goods traded between the two countries but does little to facilitate trade in financial services, which are very important for the UK economy.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said Britain cannot have such a deal free from the bloc’s rules and French president Emmanuel Macron said earlier on Saturday it was not clear whether an agreement can be reached, as Johnson wants, by the end of the year.

Johnson’s office said there were not expected to be any surprises in the mandate document, which aims for a future relationship based on friendly cooperation between sovereign equals.

British ministers were united in their objectives, it said, adding: “this is in contrast to the process of agreeing the EU’s mandate, which so far looks to be hamstrung by indecision and delay due to the competing interests of different member states.”

The EU had planned to have its mandate pinned down by Feb. 11 it said, noting that deadline had now passed and that EU countries were now locked in debate over how to agree the EU budget for the next seven years.

The first round of formal trade talks will take place in Brussels starting on March 2, with the British side led by its chief negotiator David Frost.

Reuters

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Vietnamese youngster travels back in time with clay miniatures

Each work is a scene caught by Dung and kept in his memories through his journeys across Vietnam

Latest news