Sovereignty comes first: Britain lays out tough stance for EU trade talks

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Sovereignty comes first: Britain lays out tough stance for EU trade talks

By Elizabeth Piper

 

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a news conference at the European Union leaders summit dominated by Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium October 17, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain laid out a tough opening stance for future talks with the European Union on Sunday, saying it would set its own agenda rather than meeting the bloc's rules to ensure frictionless trade.

 

After officially leaving the EU on Friday, Britain now must negotiate future trade relations with the bloc, to take effect when a standstill transition period expires at the end of the year.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has been quick to send Brussels a message before trade talks begin in March: Brexit, for him, means sovereignty trumps the economy.

 

The EU has repeatedly told Britain the level of access to its lucrative single market will depend on how far London agrees to adhere to a "level playing field" -- shorthand for rules on environmental standards, labour regulations and state aid.

 

But despite the appeals of many businesses for the government to ensure goods can trade across borders freely, ministers have been briefing companies that they should adjust to a new future when Britain will not adhere to EU rules.

 

Johnson, according to sources close to him, has taken last year's election, which handed him a large majority in parliament, as approval for his policy of putting Britain's right to set its own rules above the demands of businesses. He will outline that approach in a speech on Monday.

 

"We are taking back control of our laws, so we are not going to have high alignment with the EU, legislative alignment with their rules," foreign minister Dominic Raab told Sky News. "But we'll want to cooperate and we expect the EU to follow through on their commitment to a Canada-style free trade agreement."

 

After more than three years of often tortuous talks, Johnson wants to draw a line under what has been an angry debate that has deepened divides across the country. His aim is a trade deal allowing for tariff- and quota-free trade in goods, similar to the terms the bloc now has in place with Canada.

 

Asked whether the government expected businesses to have to prepare for new checks on goods at the border, Raab said: "The agreement that we made with the EU was to avoid all of that, and I am sure they will want to live up to the undertakings they have made just as we'd expect to do the same."

 

Late on Saturday, a government source said if the EU would not offer a Canada-style trade deal, London would instead pursue a looser trade agreement, similar to the bloc's ties with Australia.

 

"There are only two likely outcomes in negotiation - a free trade deal like Canada or a looser arrangement like Australia - and we are happy to pursue both," the source said.

 

The EU says it will not seal a trade deal with a large, economically powerful neighbour without solid provisions to guarantee fair competition.

 

Some European leaders fear Johnson could try to undercut EU businesses by loosening regulatory standards, something he has promised not to do.

 

"If Great Britain wants to establish outside the European Union a sort of 'Singapore-on-Thames', we would be against it," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a joint interview with broadcasters LCI and RTL and Le Figaro newspaper.

 

Britain and the European Union should not set 'rigid red lines' before trade talks because they could make it more difficult to secure an agreement, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Sunday.

 

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar also called on the British government not to set strict red lines, saying this could make an already difficult negotiation even harder.

 

"One thing I'd say to everyone is let's not repeat some of the errors that were made in the past two-and-a-half years," Varadkar told the BBC. "Let's not set such rigid red lines that makes it hard to come to an agreement and let's tone down the nationalistic rhetoric."

 

(Additional reporting by Maya Nikolaeva in Paris; Editing by Peter Graff and Helen Popper)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-03

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[AussieBob18]

Boris will be stating very clearing that the EU was supposed to be a Trading Bloc only, and that the movement of the Brussels bureaucrats (mainly French and German) into all aspects of the lives of the UK People was unacceptable - especially into immigration and UK laws.

 

Boris will also be stating that the UK will talk with any other State about leaving the EU, and will be in the future more than willing to assist them in going thorugh the process.

 

There is no truth to the rumour that Boris will be telling the EU that just like in WW2 the UK will defeat Germany and all its allies with help from the USA and that he and Trump have already started the process to create a new bi-lateral trading agreement.  

Edited February 2, 2020 by AussieBob18

[englishoak]

"Let's not set such rigid red lines that makes it hard to come to an agreement and let's tone down the nationalistic rhetoric."

 

Yes lets do exactly that Britain will NOT be dictated to tie ourselves to EU alignment any more and the future for the UK is NOT the EU.. 

Take the free trade offer EU, the game has changed lads. Spain wants the question of Gibraltar to be a factor in opening negotiations, good luck trying that one on 

 

"If Great Britain wants to establish outside the European Union a sort of 'Singapore-on-Thames', we would be against it,"

And if free ports are exactly what which Boris intends to launch there is ZERO the EU can do about it, it would along with a resurgence of our Fishing fleet invigorate the North. Its the fastest and simplest way for Boris to show the country hes serious about lifting up the forgotten regions. 

 

Welcome to the world of competition and a newly free and confident UK.

[samran]

555 - cheering on the self inflicted imposition of customs checks and bureaucracy on your own businesses and the resulting higher costs to consumers and calling it ‘sovereignty’. 

 

I’m not sure what Australia-EU FTA they are talking about. There is no such thing. Both sides have been in talks for a number of years, but nothing has been finalized. So much for your 11 month deadline!  
 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by samran

[englishoak]

36 minutes ago, samran said:

555 - cheering on the self inflicted imposition of customs checks and bureaucracy on your own businesses and the resulting higher costs to consumers and calling it ‘sovereignty’. Higher costs and more red tape are better words for it.

 

 

If that happens it would be exactly the same for the EU too and they sell far more into the UK than we do in the other direction. However, Boris is in the party of Red tape cutting not the other way around and we can do whatever we need to immediately, cut taxes, VAT etc to help business, cut regulations is far more likely to offset any added. To get a good deal hardball is the only language the EU understands and it looks like so does this government. Free trade ports and zones are on the cards as is far more Global trade. As time goes on that will only increase, the path is set and the focus will not be on European trade but the rest of the world. EU in contrast is failing and just lost one of its 3 net contributors, Already theres trouble brewing there how that HUGE financial hole is going to be plugged ... Italy is in a terrible state, Greece remains bankrupt and Spain is on the edge, Germany is all but in recession and France has been burning for a year already and continues to, the rest take out far more than they put in and Ireland is almost totally dependent on trade with the UK... whatever Britain's problems they are small compared to the EUs already worsening ones. 

 

I dont think many appreciate the size of the mandate hes been given, it will allow transformation of the UK not seen since the times of Thatcher, only this time it will be the regions in the rest of the UK who will be focused on or he will lose that mandate and Boris is not a stupid man. It'll take a while to clean out Whitehall of the EU centric civil servants and thats already happening. We have spent long enough naval gazing, time to get going on the future. 

 

EU is not the future for us, the world is and the sooner the EU wakes up to that the better. 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by englishoak

[Chomper Higgot]

This is the same UK being told by the US what taxes are not acceptable.

[welovesundaysatspace]

1 hour ago, englishoak said:

If that happens it would be exactly the same for the EU too and they sell far more into the UK than we do in the other direction.

EU to UK: 7-8% (average; many EU countries less than that) 
UK to EU: 45-50%

 

[IAMHERE]

Send the EU citizens home first; then negotiate trade deals. No compromise with EU as long as the 5th column is inside the UK.

[IAMHERE]

30 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

This is the same UK being told by the US what taxes are not acceptable.

True, except every nation the UK negotiates with says 'what taxes are not acceptable'. That is the essence of trade talk.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Send the EU citizens home first; then negotiate trade deals. No compromise with EU as long as the 5th column is inside the UK.

‘5th column’

 

You’ve taken on the language of the most obscene regime in modern history.

[samran]

8 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

‘5th column’

 

You’ve taken on the language of the most obscene regime in modern history.

Hardly surprising though is it?

[soalbundy]

2 hours ago, englishoak said:

"Let's not set such rigid red lines that makes it hard to come to an agreement and let's tone down the nationalistic rhetoric."

 

Yes lets do exactly that Britain will NOT be dictated to tie ourselves to EU alignment any more and the future for the UK is NOT the EU.. 

Take the free trade offer EU, the game has changed lads. Spain wants the question of Gibraltar to be a factor in opening negotiations, good luck trying that one on 

 

"If Great Britain wants to establish outside the European Union a sort of 'Singapore-on-Thames', we would be against it,"

And if free ports are exactly what which Boris intends to launch there is ZERO the EU can do about it, it would along with a resurgence of our Fishing fleet invigorate the North. Its the fastest and simplest way for Boris to show the country hes serious about lifting up the forgotten regions. 

 

Welcome to the world of competition and a newly free and confident UK.

We all have our ambitions, some more realistic than others. In today's world where everything is intertwined with everything else there is no such thing as nation sovereignty. One of the reasons that the EU let financially weak countries join was because you can't have an isolated block of wealth ignoring the poverty outside of it because they are tomorrow's customers. The UK is only geographically an island, financially the UK is fixed like concrete to the EU, 80% of its wealth is in the service industry. Compromise is king and if the government doesn't realize it (which I am sure they do) the bosses of industry do, they are the power behind the scenes because they generate the wealth so despite the pathetic nationalistic shouting, pragmatism will rule the day, no doubt packaged in red white and blue to keep the baying mob happy.

[melvinmelvin]

3 hours ago, AussieBob18 said:

Boris will be stating very clearing that the EU was supposed to be a Trading Bloc only, and that the movement of the Brussels bureaucrats (mainly French and German) into all aspects of the lives of the UK People was unacceptable - especially into immigration and UK laws.

 

Boris will also be stating that the UK will talk with any other State about leaving the EU, and will be in the future more than willing to assist them in going thorugh the process.

 

There is no truth to the rumour that Boris will be telling the EU that just like in WW2 the UK will defeat Germany and all its allies with help from the USA and that he and Trump have already started the process to create a new bi-lateral trading agreement.  

 

you seem to be well informed

 

in which bars do you get all your int.?

 

could perhaps do with a stool  and so drinks there to become more infored

 

[englishoak]

50 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

EU to UK: 7-8% (average; many EU countries less than that) 
UK to EU: 45-50%

 

% means little, our trade is indeed at those levels currently youd expect that with 28 other countries in the same union but the value is very different and who it is with even more telling. Germanys trade with its EU partners btw Intra-EU trade accounts for 59% of Germany's exports... Billions matter.We can adapt fast and will, the EU cannot and dosnt. 

 

https://fullfact.org/europe/uk-eu-trade/

Edited February 3, 2020 by englishoak

[rayluttman]

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

This is the same UK being told by the US what taxes are not acceptable.

What are you talking about?

[Sujo]

Sovereignty over economy.

 

Brace yourselves, that is a warning. You wanted sovereignty and the economy will suffer because of that.

[welovesundaysatspace]

1 hour ago, englishoak said:

% means little, (...) Billions matter.

And you’re wondering why Brexiteers aren’t being taken serious and called uneducated? 

 

[welovesundaysatspace]

18 minutes ago, rayluttman said:

What are you talking about?

Recent news about the UK wanting to tax multinational tech companies for digital services. Quickly called off by the big daddy across the Atlantic. 

[vogie]

5 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

And you’re wondering why Brexiteers aren’t being taken serious and called uneducated? 

 

Whats it like to have lost to the uneducated and what does that make you, jealous, bitter, hurting, sore loser? 

And the icing on the cake is that Nissan has suggested that if any tariffs are imposed on any of its cars, they will pull out of France and Spain and just concentrate on production in the UK. The sweet smell of success, don't you just love it.????????????

[stephenterry]

12 minutes ago, vogie said:

Whats it like to have lost to the uneducated and what does that make you, jealous, bitter, hurting, sore loser? 

And the icing on the cake is that Nissan has suggested that if any tariffs are imposed on any of its cars, they will pull out of France and Spain and just concentrate on production in the UK. The sweet smell of success, don't you just love it.????????????

Grow up, vogie. You know as well as I do that the UK government is facing an Everest-type climb to enable us to compete with the three largest mainstream economies  - USA, China, EU - in making acceptable trade deals that would raise the standard of living in our Union - that's if Scotland and Ireland remain tied to little England. 

 

To single out Nissan is just reductionism at its worst  - no country seeking global self-sufficiency would depend on anything other than multiple trade deals with many countries and global businesses. That's one reason why we should avoid putting all our eggs into the USA basket.

 

My stance on this post-Brexit is to support johnson while he pushes UK's right to be independent, although to put my trust in politicians to get it right this time around is a step too far. Too much water under the bridge to be confident of success. We'll see the outcome in a decade from now, is my best guesstimate.

[vogie]

4 minutes ago, stephenterry said:

Grow up, vogie. You know as well as I do that the UK government is facing an Everest-type climb to enable us to compete with the three largest mainstream economies  - USA, China, EU - in making acceptable trade deals that would raise the standard of living in our Union - that's if Scotland and Ireland remain tied to little England. 

 

To single out Nissan is just reductionism at its worst  - no country seeking global self-sufficiency would depend on anything other than multiple trade deals with many countries and global businesses. That's one reason why we should avoid putting all our eggs into the USA basket.

 

My stance on this post-Brexit is to support johnson while he pushes UK's right to be independent, although to put my trust in politicians to get it right this time around is a step too far. Too much water under the bridge to be confident of success. We'll see the outcome in a decade from now, is my best guesstimate.

To put it in a nutshell if someone called your lot "uneducated" I know for a fact what your first line of attack would be, there is no place for baiting on these topics, now don't you agree?

We have had now for over 3 years, enough is enough and certain posters seem more intent than others in carrying on with the name calling.

And yes it is great news for the UK Nissan stating this.

[evadgib]

The DDoS* (if that's what it is) currently attacking this website is rendering navigation & posting almost impossible. As ???????????????????????????? has been mentioned in this thread here's a car crash interview by Ian Blackford a few days ago...

(*I first tried uploading 8pm yesterday ???? )

Edited February 3, 2020 by evadgib

[Chomper Higgot]

46 minutes ago, vogie said:

Whats it like to have lost to the uneducated and what does that make you, jealous, bitter, hurting, sore loser? 

And the icing on the cake is that Nissan has suggested that if any tariffs are imposed on any of its cars, they will pull out of France and Spain and just concentrate on production in the UK. The sweet smell of success, don't you just love it.????????????

Correct me if I’m wrong but these reports of what Nissan have said are unattributed second hand, Nissan has not formally made a statement on the matter.

[transam]

20 minutes ago, stephenterry said:

Grow up, vogie. You know as well as I do that the UK government is facing an Everest-type climb to enable us to compete with the three largest mainstream economies  - USA, China, EU - in making acceptable trade deals that would raise the standard of living in our Union - that's if Scotland and Ireland remain tied to little England. 

 

To single out Nissan is just reductionism at its worst  - no country seeking global self-sufficiency would depend on anything other than multiple trade deals with many countries and global businesses. That's one reason why we should avoid putting all our eggs into the USA basket.

 

My stance on this post-Brexit is to support johnson while he pushes UK's right to be independent, although to put my trust in politicians to get it right this time around is a step too far. Too much water under the bridge to be confident of success. We'll see the outcome in a decade from now, is my best guesstimate.

Its a mistery to me how you haven't had a heart attack by now over Brexit...I have read three plus years of your doom and gloom...????

[transam]

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Correct me if I’m wrong but these reports of what Nissan have said are unattributed second hand, Nissan has not formally made a statement on the matter.

I am sure you will look for a loop hole in anything positve.......????

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, transam said:

I am sure you will look for a loop hole in anything positve.......????

We need evidence that the statement was made.

 

That’s not a loophole, it’s a  matter of checking and verifying.

[colinneil]

Brexit has happened at last, long overdue in my opinion.

Sadly most of the doubters just cannot accept it, and continue their silly arguments about doom and gloom.

Please be kind enough to stop your BS and just get on with your lives.

[englishoak]

25 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

And you’re wondering why Brexiteers aren’t being taken serious and called uneducated? 

 

 

Hubris comes before the fall lad and boy do you look particularly stupid losing to the silly & uneducated if that be true. 

 

Did you enjoy clipping words to suit ? Thank you dear boy, I just love being underestimated, makes your saltiness all the more enjoyable.... The EU rules are designed to constrain members and trade, unable to make deals alone, now thats no longer a barrier but it is for the EU..  plus we are a services based economy not trade. We shall see just how little the EU are bothered about the billions more we buy next to the % of trade we are increasingly going to diverse to other global markets and players. Tbh it was never about the money for the vast majority and never will be but make it a success we shall, I have zero doubts about that. 

 

This is the biggest change in Geo politics in Europe since the fall of the Berlin wall mark my words and the only country who can capitalise on this wonderful opportunity is the UK and there is no other option, so we shall, .. stay mad oh salty one.  

 

 

 

 

[evadgib]

8 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

We need evidence that the statement was made.

 

That’s not a loophole, it’s a  matter of checking and verifying.

It popped up briefly during Sky's press review this morning but I wasn't paying attention re specifics.

HTH

Edited February 3, 2020 by evadgib
Added the front page of today's FT

[stephenterry]

7 minutes ago, transam said:

Its a mistery to me how you haven't had a heart attack by now over Brexit...I have read three plus years of your doom and gloom...????

...and there could be another three plus years ahead. As I stated, I'll support johnson in his quest to write his name in the history books as the PM who boldly went where no man went before by taking the UK out of the EU.