UK says EU trade talks ‘over’ but bloc sees room for a deal

EU still wants a deal but not at any price

LONDON, Oct 18, (AP): British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that the UK must prepare for a no-deal break with the European Union unless there is a “fundamental” change of position from the bloc, as the two sides swapped blame for failing to strike a trade deal with just weeks until the end-of-year deadline.

The EU said it was ready to continue negotiating, but Britain declared the talks as good as dead.

“The trade talks are over,” Johnson’s spokesman James Slack said. “The EU have effectively ended them yesterday,” he said, by stating at a summit in Brussels that the UK would have to significantly change position or there would be no deal.

EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the bloc was still willing to seek compromise, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU still wanted a deal – though “not at any price.” Von der Leyen announced that EU negotiator Michel Barnier would head to London next week “to intensify these negotiations.”

Downing St rebuffed the offer, saying there was “no basis for negotiations in London as of Monday,” though British negotiator David Frost and Barnier agreed to speak early next week.

“There is only any point in Michel Barnier coming to London next week if he is prepared discuss all the issues on the basis of legal texts in an accelerated way without the UK being required to make all of the moves,” Slack said.

The EU said it saw several more weeks of detailed talks ahead which would by their very nature have to deal with legal wording, and said both sides would have to budge.

Britain ramped up tensions without definitively making good on Johnson’s threat to walk away from negotiations if a deal was not struck at the EU summit which ended Friday.

Johnson said in London that the EU had “abandoned the idea of a free trade deal” by not giving in to the UK’s demand for a generous free trade agreement like the one the bloc has with Canada.

“Unless there is a fundamental change of approach we are going to go for the Australia solution,” Johnson said.

While Australia has no comprehensive trade deal with the EU, Johnson insisted Britain would “prosper mightily” under those conditions, which would mean tariffs and other barriers between the UK and its biggest trading partner. But many economists say it would be devastating for many British businesses, which are already struggling with a huge economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

Sectors such as automaking and agriculture, which face heavy tariffs, say they could be wiped out.

Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said Johnson’s statement had put Britain “into very dangerous territory.”

“In the event of a no-deal Brexit, shoppers will, literally, pay a heavy price,” with stiff tariffs compounded by border delays, he said.

Britain officially left the EU on Jan 31 but remains part of its economic structures until Dec 31. The two sides have been trying to strike a deal on trade and other relations before then, and say in practice it must be agreed by early next month if it is to be ratified by year’s end.

Months of talks have ground to a halt on the issues of fishing – highly symbolic for maritime nations on both sides – and rules to ensure common regulatory standards and fair competition. The EU fears the UK will gain an unfair advantage by slashing food, workplace and environmental standards and pumping state money into businesses once it is free of the bloc’s rules.