U.K. opens EU trade talks with threat to walk away
Britain demands right to diverge from bloc’s rules to strike new agreements
LONDON—Britain laid out its opening demands for upcoming trade talks with the European Union on Thursday, including a blunt threat to walk away from the negotiating table if there is no progress within four months.
The two sides appear headed for a rocky first round of negotiations as they try to forge a new relationship following the U.K.’s departure from the now 27country bloc.
Britain and the EU both say they want to reach a free-trade agreement, but have starkly divergent views on how it should be overseen and what constitutes fair competition between their two economies.
The EU says Britain must agree to follow the bloc’s rules in areas ranging from state aid to environmental protections, and give European boats access to U.K. fishing waters, if the two sides are to strike a good deal.
But the U.K. is demanding the right to diverge from the bloc’s rules in order to strike new trade agreements around the world, and to give the British government a freer hand to intervene in the U.K. economy.
“In pursuit of a deal we will not trade away our sovereignty,” Michael Gove, the minister in charge of Brexit preparations, told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
“We will not be seeking to dynamically align with EU rules on EU terms, governed by EU laws and EU institutions.”
That conflict will be one of the big hurdles in talks, which are due to begin Monday in Brussels. Fishing is likely to be another flashpoint. EU countries — especially France — want Britain to grant European boats long-term access to U.K. waters. Britain wants to negotiate fishing quotas annually.
Britain left the EU on Jan. 31 but remains bound by the bloc’s rules until a post-Brexit transition period ends on Dec. 31. A divorce agreement between the two sides allows for the transition to be extended for two more years, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists he will not agree to that.
That leaves the two sides just months to seal a wide-ranging deal.
Britain’s negotiating guidelines insist that there is “limited, but sufficient time” to get an agreement.
The document says a “broad outline” of an agreement should be done by June. It warns that if there is not sufficient progress by then, the U.K. could walk away and focus on “domestic preparations to exit the transition period.”