Businesses plead for Brexit deal as trade talks remain stuck

LONDON (AP) — British businesses and some European Union leaders on Friday urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to strike a last-minute trade deal with the EU, as the two sides told their citizens to brace for New Year upheaval in the UK-EU trading relationship.

Johnson said it was “very, very likely” that negotiations on a new economic relationship to take effect January 1 will fail to strike a deal.

Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have set a Sunday deadline to decide whether to keep talking or prepare all-out for a no-deal break.

Johnson said “there is a way to go - we’re hopeful that progress can be made” between the two negotiating teams in Brussels.

“But I’ve got to tell that from where I stand now, ... it is looking very, very likely” that the UK will end up trading with the bloc on World Trade Organization terms — with all the tariffs and barriers that would bring.

Britain left the EU on January 31 but has continued to follow the bloc’s rules during a transition period that lasts until the end of the year.

While both sides want a deal on the terms of a new relationship, they have fundamentally different views of what it entails.

The EU fears Britain will slash social and environmental standards and pump state money into UK industries, becoming a low-regulation economic rival on the bloc’s doorstep, so is demanding strict “level playing field” guarantees in exchange for access to its markets.

The UK government claims the EU is trying to bind Britain to the bloc’s rules and regulations indefinitely, rather than treating it as an independent nation.

At the end of a two-day summit where she briefed the 27 EU leaders, von der Leyen said that the question of alignment with EU regulations need not be a deal-breaker, and would not undermine the UK’s cherished desire for sovereignty.

“They would remain free, sovereign, if you wish, to decide what they want to do,” she said.

“We would simply adapt the conditions for access to our market.”

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