UK’s Latest Trade Pitch For Brexit Negotiations

Negotiation tactics à la UK Government:

Aim high, but prepare to accept whatever is possible in order to avoid disaster?

Temporary customs arrangement post-Brexit, until December 2021.

At first sight, the relevant EU negotiators are not happy with the proposal. While the UK Gov’t was proud to present a cabinet view after a series or internal clashes, the outcome – biased as can be – does not seem to pass the mark with the EU counterparts.

Overall, the proposal wants to keep the entire UK in the customs union (not only Northern Ireland) with all the benefits of the single market but without being a bearer of the rules that of. The UK proposes that no customs duties of fiscal nature, no quantitative restrictions, no control should take place between the EU and the UK and its dependencies. However, the proposal does not address what happens if there is no agreement between the UK and the EU by the end of the transition period. The Gov’t also suggests that the UK steers its own commercial policy externally.

For the full text of the UK’s latest trade pitch, see here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/714656/Technical_note_temporary_customs_arrangement.pdf