Finance & Trade

UK Strikes Post-Brexit Trade Deals in Southern Africa

August 31, 2018

The Express reports that the UK government has struck a deal with Mozambique and the five members of the Southern African Customs Union to roll over their free-trade arrangements with the EU so they apply to trade with Britain after its withdrawal from the supranational bloc.
UK Leader Mulls Extension of EU Market Membership

August 30, 2018

Bloomberg reports that, under pressure from EU officials to find a solution to the issue of a potential “hard border” in Ireland after Brexit, UK Prime Minister Theresa May is crafting a plan to retain the EU’s internal market regulations beyond the already-agreed post-Brexit transition period set to end in 2020.
Howe: “No-Deal” Brexit Presents Opportunities for Consumers

August 21, 2018

British lawyer Martin Howe QC examines why EU rules, including the bloc’s common external tariff, have inflated UK food, clothing, and other prices and asserts that leaving the EU customs union presents the opportunity for the UK to lower tariffs and decrease prices for the country’s consumers.
EU Officials Plan for Non-binding Brexit Political Declaration

August 06, 2018

The Guardian reports that EU officials are targeting a UK-EU political declaration on a post-Brexit trade and security framework that would not be legally binding and would be between 5 and 30 pages long, frustrating UK plans for a comprehensive, binding deal on its future relationship with the bloc.
Italian Official: EU Fails to Negotiate Brexit in “Good Faith”

August 06, 2018

Politico reports that Italian Interior Minister and head of the Northern League political party Matteo Salvini has asserted the EU institutions are not negotiating the terms of Brexit with the UK in “good faith” and said he hopes Britain succeeds outside the EU as an example to other euroskeptics.
Shankar Critiques EU Rigidity on UK Trade Proposals

August 06, 2018

Aarti Shankar of the think tank Open Europe argues that the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is understating the flexibility of EU trade policy by questioning the feasibility of a “goods only” common rulebook proposed by the UK after Brexit, arguing that the EU has such arrangements with countries ranging from Ukraine to Switzerland.
Broomfield: UK Brexit Policy Threatens Commonwealth Trade Options

August 02, 2018

Rory Broomfield of hedge fund management firm Rudolf Wolff Limited writes that the UK government’s policy aiming to accept future EU regulations following Brexit would place EU lawmakers “in the driving seat” of UK economic policy and prevent Britain from striking favorable trade deals among its Commonwealth partners.
EU Official Rejects UK Post-Brexit Customs Plan

August 01, 2018

The Independent reports that the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has rejected the latest UK proposal for a post-Brexit customs partnership with the EU, asserting the EU cannot delegate to the UK the collection of customs duties unless Britain remains part of an EU customs union.
UK Official Threatens to Hold Back EU “Divorce” Payment

August 01, 2018

Business Insider reports that UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has threatened to withhold funds from the EU as part of the agreed Brexit “divorce bill” if the EU and UK fail to strike a trade deal during negotiations over Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc.
Rees-Mogg Predicts “No-Deal” Brexit

July 31, 2018

The Guardian reports that, following the EU’s critiques of the British government’s latest negotiating position, the head of the UK’s euroskeptic European Research Group Jacob Rees-Mogg has asserted that the likeliest outcome of the UK-EU Brexit negotiations is withdrawal from the bloc without a deal on customs or trade.