EU trade deal can be done despite talks stalemate: UK

Senior British government minister Michael Gove said there was a post-Brexit trade deal to be done with the European Union providing the bloc agreed to compromise, days after both sides said talks were making little progress.

The United Kingdom left the EU on Jan. 31 but the main terms of its membership remain in place for a transition period until the end of this year to allow it time to negotiate a free trade agreement.

Both Britain’s and the EU’s chief negotiators on Friday gave downbeat assessments of the latest round of talks, saying the other side had to give ground if any progress was to be made.

The stalemate has raised the prospect that there will be no deal struck, a scenario that would damage global trade as the world copes with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

On Friday, investors’ concerns about the state of the trade negotiations pushed sterling to its lowest level in more than a month.

The main sticking point in the talks has been so-called “level playing field” rules to ensure fair competition. The EU says they are indispensable to ensure Britain does not undercut its standards, but Britain rejects them as binding it to European laws.

Gove, the British Cabinet Office Minister, said this and issues such as future fishing rights remained sticking points.