Thursday, February 13

France dismisses PM’s tough talk on trade deal


 

 

Boris Johnson’s pledge to walk away from EU trade talks if there is no deal by the end of the year has been criticised by a senior French minister.

The prime minister has insisted Britain is willing to revert to base-level World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules if an agreement is not in place for 31 December 2020.

That would see big taxes slapped on products exported by businesses to EU countries. But trying to pile pressure on the prime minister ahead of negotiations officially kick-starting next week, the French minister for Europe, Amelie de Montchalin, called the 10-month timeframe an artificial deadline.

Ms de Montchalin said we do not accept time pressure and warned Downing Street not to underestimate the unity of the EU27 leaders.

She also took on Mr Johnson’s demands for either a Canada-style deal or agreement to trade with Brussels on WTO terms similar to those of Australia’s.

Britain is not Canada and certainly not Australia, she said, claiming a trade deal with the latter doesn’t exist and was for the birds.

She tried to cut off UK red lines which reject following EU rules on standards known as a level playing field.

We do not accept cherry picking,” Ms de Montchalin told an audience at the Chatham House think-tank on Friday.

And she added: We decide how we want to trade with third countries. David Frost, the PM’s chief Europe adviser, said last week signing up to alignment on standards would defeat the point of Brexit.

He confirmed Mr Johnson wanted one of two types of trade arrangement to kick in from next January, but was prepared to walk away with none.

The first is a Canada-style trade deal which eliminates most import taxes and quotas on the amount of a product that can be shipped without extra charges but does little for trade in services.

The second is a rebranded no deal – an agreement mostly on WTO terms. Mr Johnson confirmed on Thursday he is prepared to walk away from the talks if not enough progress has been made by June.