Bloomberg: EU aiming for post-Brexit trade deal to be ready by January 2021

18 December 2017

The European Union expects the UK’s post-Brexit transition period to last until the end of 2020 and is aiming for a trade deal to kick in immediately after that, according to a European Commission official.

“The end of 2020 seems like a natural end-point for the implementation period or transition,” Stefaan De Rynck, senior adviser to chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier, told an audience at the Chatham House think tank in London on Monday. “Our goal would have to be to make sure that the future relationship is indeed in place in January 2021 if the transition were indeed to end at the end of 2020.”

The U.K. wants a transition period after it leaves the EU in March 2019 to give certainty to businesses about what rules they’ll be operating under. It would also give more time for the two sides to negotiate a full-blown trade agreement. [...]

Full article on Bloomberg

© Bloomberg