britain and eu face years of trade talks
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

With negotiators bogged down

Britain and EU face years of trade talks

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Britain and EU face years of trade talks

Prime Minister Theresa May's triggering of Brexit means negotiations
Brussels - ArabToday

 Hammering out a trade deal between EU and post-Brexit Britain will be a one-of-a-kind negotiation, a battle between intimate allies unprecedented in modern history, officials and analysts say.

Recent EU free trade agreements including ones with Canada and South Korea have taken at least five years to achieve, with negotiators bogged down in both tiny details and major headaches.

Efforts to reach a trade deal with the US have taken even longer and now stalled -- but insiders say Brexit could top the lot when it comes to difficulty.

Lurking over the trade talks is the prospect of no deal, known as "hard Brexit", a legal void that most observers believe could have grave consequences for Britain, but also the EU.


Both deals were followed by a bruising ratification process by the EU's national governments.An EU-Britain deal would be the "biggest free trade deal ever struck, ... that goes far deeper than what happens for EU-Canada or EU-Korea," Ivan Rogers, who stepped down as Britain's ambassador to the European Union in January, told British MPs last month.

- 'World-class' EU negotiators -

British Prime Minister Theresa May launched the two-year Brexit process on Wednesday, with the European Union insisting that issues like Britain's exit bill and the fate of EU citizens in Britain must be settled first.

But once those issues are settled, Britain and the EU will seek to sketch out a new future in the form of a far-reaching trade deal to cover all the issues currently covered by the single market.

Many in the EU have warned that it will be impossible to reach a deal before Britain leaves the EU in 2019, meaning it will need a transitional period under still-to-be-determined terms before a full agreement can be reached.

European Parliament Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt recommended limiting any such transition to three years after Brexit.

But Rogers warned that London would stand far weaker on trade than the "world class" and highly experienced EU, with the British government having had no negotiators since the 1970s when it joined the bloc.

Some pro-Brexiters in Britain argue that an EU deal make light of the challenges.

Indeed, Britain is currently an integral member of the EU's single market, the most comprehensive international trade agreement there is. Why should hammering out a trade accord be difficult when your starting point is convergence?

To some degree this was true, analysts said.

"The previous experience of trade negotiations like TTIP or CETA doesn't actually matter," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the ECIPE think tank, referring to talks with the United States and Canada.

"This divorce settlement is going to be built on the ... status quo," he said.

The starting point for trade deal with Canada was no agreement while "the status quo in Brexit is actually an agreement," he said, speaking at a conference in Brussels on the consequences of Brexit.

That is not the rhetoric of the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who has ruled out negotiating a trade deal before the official divorce is settled, nor of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

- Indignity for Britain -

Barnier has threatened that a nasty divorce with no trade deal would condemn Britain to the status of a mere "third country", guided only by World Trade Organization rules.

Rogers said this would leave Britain out in the cold.

Becoming a third country would be an ultimate indignity for Britain -- third countries in EU-speak are automatically slapped with higher tariffs and a raft of regulatory barriers.

The vast majority of world countries are not in that category, having hammered out little-known deals on various sectors and products. The United States has at least 20 of these deals with the EU, Rogers said. 

Barnier described the potential dangers of zero-deal for London: queues of backed up trucks at Dover, lower growth and a regulatory void that would spook foreign investors from Britain.

"While low, that risk is not zero," said Berenberg Bank analyst Kallum Pickering.

"The issues that led to Brexit in the first place could again turn into points of contention," he said.

source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

britain and eu face years of trade talks britain and eu face years of trade talks

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

britain and eu face years of trade talks britain and eu face years of trade talks

 



GMT 12:48 2016 Sunday ,27 November

Cilic, Dodig push Croatia to brink of Davis Cup

GMT 05:24 2017 Thursday ,28 December

Erdogan says 'terrorist' Assad cannot be part of Syria

GMT 12:59 2016 Saturday ,05 November

WB welcomes economic reforms in Egypt

GMT 18:40 2016 Saturday ,05 November

Egyptian GDRs in London down

GMT 10:57 2017 Wednesday ,06 December

Peru striker Guerrero has doping ban extended

GMT 17:51 2017 Tuesday ,07 March

Trump Signs New Travel Ban on Six Muslim Countries

GMT 10:30 2017 Wednesday ,06 September

Saudi Information Ministry praises media role during Hajj

GMT 15:29 2017 Tuesday ,24 January

Mind games really do help your brain

GMT 06:55 2015 Thursday ,01 October

Boston Red Sox beat Yankees

GMT 08:17 2017 Monday ,28 August

Bahrain celebrates World Humanitarian Day 2017

GMT 02:07 2017 Tuesday ,28 February

Opposition seeks Russian support at Syria talks

GMT 11:06 2017 Wednesday ,27 December

Bahrain tourism projects valued at over $ 13 billion

GMT 20:35 2011 Tuesday ,10 May

New exhibition of Islamic ornaments

GMT 19:52 2016 Friday ,19 August

Nice joins wave of French towns banning burkinis

GMT 03:46 2017 Wednesday ,06 September

US-backed Syrian forces seize Raqqa mosque

GMT 22:22 2017 Friday ,15 December

BDF Military Museum open on National Day

GMT 09:47 2015 Wednesday ,02 December

Ryanair launches court action against Google, eDreams

GMT 10:46 2017 Wednesday ,22 March

Japan's February trade surplus hits multi-year high
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday