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UK will prepare to embrace no-trade deal with EU: PM
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IANS | 16 Oct, 2020
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that as the European
Union (EU) Summit in Brussels refused to offer London a Canada-style
deal, Britain will prepare to embrace a no-trade deal scenario.
Johnson's
remarks came following the EU Summit discussions on Brexit on Thursday.
EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he will continue
intensive talks in the coming weeks and the EU hopes to reach a deal
with Britain, but not at any price, Xinhua news agency reported.
Johnson
said Britain wanted nothing more complicated than a Canada-style
relationship. But to judge by the latest EU summit in Brussels, that
won't work for the EU because they want the continued ability to control
Britain's legislative freedom and fisheries.
"And given that
they have refused to negotiate seriously for much of the last few
months, and given that this summit appears explicitly to rule out a
Canada-style deal, I have concluded that we should get ready for January
1 (2021) with arrangements that are more like Australia's based on
simple principles of global free trade," the Prime Minister said.
The
Australia-style arrangement is an euphemism for failure to reach a free
trade agreement with the EU, which means the Britain-EU trade will fall
back on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules in 2021.
He called
on British businesses, hauliers and travelers to get ready since there
are only 10 weeks until the end of the transition period due on December
31, 2020.
Johnson said Britain is willing to discuss the
practicalities with the EU where a lot of progress has already been
made, on such issues as social security, aviation, nuclear cooperation
and so on.
"But for whatever reason it is clear from the summit
that after (more than) 45 years of membership they are not willing --
unless there is some fundamental change of approach -- to offer this
country the same terms as Canada," he said.
Johnson said Britain
will prepare to embrace the Australia-style arrangement with complete
confidence, adding that Britain will prosper mightily as an independent
free trading nation, controlling its own borders, fisheries, and setting
its own laws.
Prior to the EU Summit, Johnson held a telephone
conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron. Both leaders had
said an agreement needs to be struck in October to ensure there is
enough time for ratification.
Meanwhile, Johnson and Macron also
discussed the coronavirus crisis in their bilateral discussions as a
sharp rise in COVID-19 infections was reported in their countries.
The
discussion took place at a time when Britain, China, France, Russia and
the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus
vaccines to check the spread of the virus in the world.
Britain
and the EU started their lengthy and bumpy post-Brexit talks in March
after Britain ended its EU membership on Jan. 31, trying to secure a
future trade deal before the Brexit transition period expires at the end
of the year.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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Daily Poll |
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