The UK government has given the EU a Brexit deadline of four months. No. 10 is threatening to walk away from the negotiating table if a broad outline for a Canada-style trade agreement cannot be reached by the summer.
But the UK isn’t really being as radical as it might first appear. For a start, the withdrawal agreement already commits the parties to a July deadline by which point the EU must decide whether to extend the transition period.
Some might argue that the UK is ripping up the political declaration by imposing such a deadline. But in fact, the UK is only applying a minimalist interpretation of the non-binding political declaration, arguing that ‘regression‘ in social or environmental policy should only be banned when trade is distorted. The EU, on the other hand, wants the UK to respect its ‘high standards’ in return for tariff-free access to the bloc.
The backdrop to this is that the EU – or at least its chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier – thinks that when the EU has more trade with a country, it justifies more protectionism.
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