Trade talks with EU reach an impasse

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that the U.K. 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 U.K. would have to significantly change position or there would be no deal.

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