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[webfact]

After Brexit, UK aims for trade deal with EU that tops Canada pact

By Elizabeth Piper

 

Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis leaves Downing Street, London, December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is aiming to secure a comprehensive free trade deal with the European Union and wants it to be signed shortly after it leaves the bloc in 2019, Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday.

 

After securing an initial agreement on Friday to move Brexit talks to a second phase, Prime Minister Theresa May is keen to start discussing future ties with the EU, and especially the type of trading agreement to try to offer greater certainty for businesses.

 

But despite Davis striking a confident tone, EU officials say they will only launch negotiations on a legally binding treaty after Britain leaves and becomes a "third country", according to draft negotiating guidelines.

 

"It's not that complicated, it comes right back to the alignment point ... We start in full alignment, we start in complete convergence so we can work it out from there," Davis told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

 

"The thing is how we manage divergence so it doesn't undercut the access to the market," he said, describing his preferred deal as "Canada plus plus plus".

 

The EU has been considering a post-Brexit free trade deal with Britain along the lines of one agreed last year with Canada.

 

But the UK economy is nearly twice the size of Canada's and British officials have said that their current alignment with EU standards and much closer trading links with the continent give them scope for an even deeper relationship.

 

LIMITED RESPITE

 

May has been hailed by many in her deeply divided Conservative party for rescuing the agreement to unlock the Brexit talks by offering EU member Ireland and her allies in Northern Ireland a pledge to avoid any return of a hard border.

 

By playing with the wording, May agreed that if the two sides failed to agree an overall Brexit deal, the United Kingdom would keep "full alignment" with those rules of the EU's single market that help cooperation between Ireland's north and south.

 

Davis described the commitment as more of a "statement of intent" than a legally binding measure -- something that might reassure hardline Brexit campaigners who fear that it could imply that Britain was leaving the EU in name only.

 

Despite last week's progress, May will enjoy little respite. The second phase of talks is expected to expose the rifts in her top team of ministers over what Britain should look like once it leaves the EU.

 

On Saturday, environment minister Michael Gove, a Brexit campaigner, opened up the possibility of changing the terms of any agreement with the EU after Brexit if Britons felt that the deal had not reflected their demands to "take back control".

 

"If the British people dislike the arrangement that we have negotiated with the EU, the agreement will allow a future government to diverge," Gove wrote in a column in the Daily Telegraph.

 

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Toby Chopra/Keith Weir)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-11

[Samui Bodoh]

44 minutes ago, webfact said:

But the UK economy is nearly twice the size of Canada's and British officials have said that their current alignment with EU standards and much closer trading links with the continent give them scope for an even deeper relationship.

"...an even deeper relationship..."

 

Hmm... To me that sounds a lot like "an ever closer union". That can't be right, can it?

 

It seems to me that the UK wants a close and deep relationship with the EU if necessary, but doesn't necessarily want a close and deep relationship with the EU.

.

Wow.

[Grouse]

56 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...an even deeper relationship..."

 

Hmm... To me that sounds a lot like "an ever closer union". That can't be right, can it?

 

It seems to me that the UK wants a close and deep relationship with the EU if necessary, but doesn't necessarily want a close and deep relationship with the EU.

.

Wow.

Exactly, let's tear the country in two, slash economic growth, ignore everything else and spend a fortune to get a deal not as good as we already have! Insane.

[geriatrickid]

No wonder the  Brexit talks are in such a bad state with a twit like this running off at the mouth. The UK is not comparable to Canada. Bigger yes, but the UK doesn't have the resources and deep pockets to withstand the petty blackmail of the EU when it comes to a trade deal. Canada is energy self sufficient if need be. It has a lower deficit, lower unemployment, lower poverty, lower tax rate disparity and a higher per capita GDP per person. This gave Canada more room to maneuver and to take some of the hits.

At the end of the day, Canada and the EU were blackmailed and held hostage  by a faction of greedy Belgians. The Belgians did their utmost to scuttle the trade agreement, one which Canada is having second thoughts about now. It was only through the forceful intervention of France and the Netherlands that the Belgians  backed down.I doubt that the French will intervene on behalf of the UK as they did for Canada.

 

Mr. Davis doesn't know what blackmail and greed is until he tries to negotiate his deal and a small minority  attempts to squeeze him for their own gain. And that in a nutshell was why the EU has failed. Obnoxious  "countries"  which would otherwise be irrelevant have used the EU to further their own gains at the expense of the civilized better managed EU countries. Some of the former east bloc countries and of course the Belgians will do their utmost to  leverage their EU membership to suck as much capital as they can out of the UK. They will still want to send their nationals to the UK for the generous welfare and healthcare benefits.

Edited December 11, 2017 by geriatrickid

[ilostmypassword]

3 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

No wonder the  Brexit talks are in such a bad state with a twit like this running off at the mouth. The UK is not comparable to Canada. Bigger yes, but the UK doesn't have the resources and deep pockets to withstand the petty blackmail of the EU when it comes to a trade deal. Canada is energy self sufficient if need be. It has a lower deficit, lower unemployment, lower poverty, lower tax rate disparity and a higher per capita GDP per person. This gave Canada more room to maneuver and to take some of the hits.

At the end of the day, Canada and the EU were blackmailed and held hostage  by a faction of greedy Belgians. The Belgians did their utmost to scuttle the trade agreement, one which Canada is having second thoughts about now. It was only through the forceful intervention of France and the Netherlands that the Belgians  backed down.I doubt that the French will intervene on behalf of the UK as they did for Canada.

 

Mr. Davis doesn't know what blackmail and greed is until he tries to negotiate his deal and a small minority  attempts to squeeze him for their own gain. And that in a nutshell was why the EU has failed. Obnoxious  "countries"  which would otherwise be irrelevant have used the EU to further their own gains at the expense of the civilized better managed EU countries. Some of the former east bloc countries and of course the Belgians will do their utmost to  leverage their EU membership to suck as much capital as they can out of the UK. They will still want to send their nationals to the UK for the generous welfare and healthcare benefits.

Did the blackmail fail? I thought those Belgians got at least some of what they wanted. So much for the tyranny of Germany and France.

And the EU has failed? Really? I must have missed that headline.

[ballpoint]

My, what a lot of knobs there are.

[natway09]

We want out, but we want to take the ball with us.

Why would the EU want to do them any favours ?

[Stargeezr]

To those who think the EU is in great shape, phone your friends from Greece and Italy and a few other places. Are their countries not bankrupt or close to it.  Is Spain in good shape?  Huh?

Geezer

[ilostmypassword]

31 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

To those who think the EU is in great shape, phone your friends from Greece and

Italy and a few other places. Are their countries not bankrupt or close to it.

Is Spain in good shape?  Huh?

Geezer

All the countries you cited are in the Eurozone. The Eurozone is certainly a mistake. And guess what? the UK isn't in it. That said most of the countries in the Eurozone are doing just fine now. Better than the UK, in fact. Life is certainly better for the average citizen in those Eurozone nations than it is for the average UK citizen.

[dunroaming]

We need to talk about David.   This is all obviously too much for him and he is losing the plot.... Big Time!  For the chief negotiator to be in denial is a dangerous thing, especially when May is trying to ride a sort of victory over the deal on Friday.

 

At the weekend the media have been in overdrive trying to pitch one conspiracy over another which has just muddied the water even further.  One argument is that the EU is fast heading towards being "the United States of Europe".  I think that is a fair point and I am sure some are pushing for that.  That then is pitched as a justification for us leaving the EU and I get that.  However the UK (inside the EU) is an important player (hence the EU trying their hardest to keep us in) and we would fight that along with the other countries that are against it.

 

But we are not staying in so it will not be an issue.  The issue is where we end up and that is still very much up in the air.  A Canada plus deal?  Surely a Canada plus deal is more or less the same as the Norwegian deal?  I know that May has said that she wants a special deal for us and Barnier has said, no special deals for the UK.  Well there will be a deal of some sort at the end of this and we have to hope for the best.

 

I don't want to live in a United States of Europe and I doubt any of us do. I do want to live in a country that has a close trading relationship with Europe and where people are welcome to come and work and contribute.