UK-EU Trade Talks to Begin Late February or Early March

The UK-EU Trade Talks to Begin Late February or Early March? There are whispers of a possible UK-EU Trade Talks to Begin Late February or Early March. That is the feeling that so many traders and analysts are expressing, however, it is not one that has yet been verified. In the meantime, the clock is ticking on the UK-EU negotiating team of Sir Andrew Cahn, Pete Walsh, and Stephen Barclay.

The insiders agree that the talks will reach a crucial point. Trade negotiators will sit down and come to an agreement. This will then need to be agreed by a Parliamentary panel which will hold its own confirmation hearing.

They must then vote and report back to the House of Commons. They must therefore expect this to be a tense and difficult process. There will be political pressures on both sides of the table.

The Royal Navy always has great skills in assessing the flows of trade and they would have to make a decision as to whether to enter the talks to finish off a large agreements or stand off. They will then need to seek approval of a panel of legal experts, economic advisers, customs officers, and company managements. Finally, they will have to approve a border mechanism in the form of what is called the Common External Tariff (CET).

If the teams of David Davis and Liam Fox have the final say on the border control mechanism, then they will be the final decision makers. Given the uncertainty over the outcome of the talks, all of this will be very time consuming and difficult. It will take time to negotiate a new Free Trade Agreement with the EU.

People familiar with the process are unsure whether David Davis will be able to produce new trade deals or not. It will be very difficult to do this because he is from the side of business that is looking to secure trade deals by undercutting the EU.

It will be seen as a betrayal for him to agree to an arrangement which we believe to be bad for our industries. He will in effect be taking a leap into the dark, risking an arrangement that will not be able to be implemented.

One can imagine that this will mean that he will be in a position to refuse to put a new Free Trade Agreement to the PM for a vote and in so doing to undermine Theresa May’s plans to hold a snap General Election. That is a stance that needs to be avoided by all means.

The new appointment to the job of Trade Commissioner, Sir Andrew Cahn, was the first big appointment that was made. He had to build up his credibility because of the difficulty in understanding the talks between the UK and the EU.

The new team will need to work out how it will be able to ensure that all the negotiating sides understand all of the complexities of all the future trade deals that will be required in order to finalise these in a timely manner. A very hard and complicated task.

There is a lot to be said about the future trade deals with the EU. This is not the time to build up trust and confidence between the two negotiating sides and although it seems that a deal is finally on the cards, the parties are still far apart on the most fundamental issues.