“Many British businesses say they are struggling to fill positions that might once have been taken by E.U. workers.”
and remained 15 percent down in August, even as business with other countries began to recover from pandemic effects. It estimates that Britain’s economy will be 4 percent less productive than it would have been inside the bloc.
14. Opponents of Brexit describe it as an attempt to reclaim an imagined Britain of the past, one with fewer European migrants and more patriotic singing. But Mr. Johnson, like many prominent proponents, often presents it as a way of embracing change.
15. Outside the E.U. single market, with its shared regulations, Britain can set rules to encourage innovation, although the deal permits either side to seek redress for regulatory changes that might create an unfair advantage. Outside the bloc’s customs union, with its common tariffs, Britain can seek trade deals with countries such as India and the United States. It signed a major trade deal with Australia in June.
16. Some Brexit supporters also argue that ending free migration for European Union citizens will allow more flexibility for others — a case that resonated in British Asian communities during the referendum campaign. When China imposed a security law last year on Hong Kong, Mr. Johnson offered British residency right to three million people in the city, though without helping them leave.
17. A British agreement alongside the United States in September to help Australia deploy nuclear submarines was hailed by Brexit supporters as a success for the new approach. It also upset an Australian defense deal with
France, striking a blow in a rivalry that Brexit has sharpened. But most benefits of a Global Britain so far remain theoretical. The Office for Budget Responsibility has said it expects barely any effect from new trade deals.
WHAT’S NEXT?
18. For bankers, traders, truckers, architects and millions of migrants, the Dec. 24 trade agreement was only the beginning of a high-stakes and unpredictable experiment.
19. Britain has been short of customs agents to deal with the tens of millions of declarations now needed, industry experts said. It has repeatedly delayed some of its own new border checks, with several deadlines pushed to July 2022.
20. In the four years after Britain’s referendum, the number of Europeans migrating to the country for work plunged, and British companies sent employees to Paris, Dublin or Frankfurt. The number of jobs that will be relocated, or created in different places, is still becoming clear.
21. But already, many British businesses say they are struggling to fill positions that might once have been taken by E.U. workers, presenting a risk to Britain’s pandemic recovery. A lack of truck drivers, echoed in other countries but exacerbated by Brexit, has caused passing shortages of a bewildering range of items including Nando’s chicken and Haribo sweets.
22. And the future of some E.U. citizens in Britain remains uncertain. More than two million have been granted “settled status,” the right to stay indefinitely. But applications closed at the end of June, and the process has made few provisions for those unable to complete it online, much less for those who don’t realize they need permission to stay somewhere they have lived for decades.
1. to break, broke, broken from quitter / regulatory réglementaire / to cast, cast, cast off ici, rejeter, tourner le dos à / bloc ici, l'Union européenne / overnight du jour au lendemain.
2. split séparation / to reshape remodeler, transformer / foreign policy politique étrangère / border frontière.
3. global international / tie lien.
4. to hit, hit, hit ici, se heurter à / setback revers, difficulté / dispensation ici, système / shelf rayon / to struggle avoir du mal (à) / shortage pénurie / truck driver chauffeur routier (truck camion).
5. arrangement disposition, accord / sensitive sensible / to fuel alimenter, favoriser / rioting émeutes.
6. basics (l') essentiel, b.a.-ba / portmanteau mot-valise / to catch, caught, caught on devenir populaire, être adopté / shorthand abréviation /
trade commerce.
7. the pros and cons le pour et le contre, les avantages et les inconvénients / to broach aborder / to hold, held, held organiser / to support ici, être en faveur de.
8. hardly pas vraiment / argument querelle, discussion, débat / rage colère, fureur / across ici, partout en.
9. acrimonious plein de rancoeur / to push promouvoir / misleading trompeur, erroné, fallacieux / rules règlementation / withdrawal retrait.
10. membership adhésion, appartenance / to cement cimenter, consolider / decade décennie / good bien, marchandise / tariff droit de douane.
11. automaker constructeur automobile / to rely on dépendre de / supplier fournisseur / touring en tournée / thicket bosquet; ici, ensemble, multitude.
12. agreement accord / to reach parvenir à / trader négociant / paperwork paperasse, formalités / unpredictable imprévisible / delay retard / to result in avoir pour conséquence / to rot pourrir / cargo cargaison / lawyer avocat, juriste / patchwork variété, différentes possibilités / regulator organisme de réglementation.
13. body organisme / sharp ici, dur / to take, took, taken a hit prendre un coup, être touché /
business activité, affaires / to recover se remettre/ relever (de).
14. opponent opposant, détracteur / to reclaim reconquérir, récupérer / prominent important / proponent partisan, défenseur / way façon, moyen / to embrace accueillir à bras ouverts, adopter.
15. single unique / to set, set, set fixer, imposer / deal accord / redress réparation, dédommagement, compensation / unfair injuste / customs douanes.
16. supporter partisan, défenseur / to argue affirmer / case ici, arguments / to resonate trouver un écho (chez), intéresser.
17. alongside aux côtés de, avec / to hail acclamer, saluer / to upset chambouler, perturber /
to strike, struck, struck a blow porter un coup / rivalry rivalité / to sharpen aiguiser; ici, aviver, accentuer / to expect (s’)attendre (à), espérer / barely à peine, quasiment pas.
18. trucker routier / high-stakes où l'enjeu est important, crucial / unpredictable imprévisible.
19. to be short of être à court/manquer de / border check contrôle aux frontières / deadline échéance.
20. to plunge chuter, dégringoler / to relocate déménager, délocaliser.
21. business entreprise / to fill positions pourvoir des postes / once autrefois, par le passé / recovery redressement, reprise (économique) / lack manque / passing éphémère, passager / bewildering déroutant, ahurissant, stupéfiant, déconcertant / a range of divers / item article / sweet bonbon.
22. to grant accorder / settled établi; ici, en règle / application candidature, demande d’inscription / provision disposition / to complete remplir, effectuer (les démarches) / to realize se rendre compte.